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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/adventuresonhighOOstea 



ADVENTURES 

ON 

THE HIGH SEAS 

ROMANTIC INCIDENTS & PERILS OF 

TRAVEL, SPORT, AND EXPLORATION 

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD 



RICHARD STEAD, B.A., F.R.Hist.S. 

AUTHOR OF " ADVENTURES ON THE GREAT RIVERS " 

"ADVENTURES ON THE HIGH mountains" 

" WILL OF THE DALES." &C. &*C. 



WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS 



PHILADELPHIA 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

LONDON: SEELEY & CO. Limited 
1909 



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PREFACE 

NOT all the races that have won renown by their 
daring adventures on the ocean can, perhaps, be 
credited with a passion for the sea. Those adven- 
turous traders, the old Phoenicians, are said to have 
hugged the shores of the Mediterranean, and to have 
ventured as little as possible out of sight of land. It was 
the pursuit of wealth and the thirst for discovery which 
led the mercantile Venetians of the Middle Ages and the 
Spanish and Portuguese explorers to brave the dangers of 
the deep, rather than a love of its salt breezes and rolling 
waves. Yet among them, as among the old Vikings, and 
the Dutchmen of later times, not less ready on occasion to 
fight than to trade, and the hardy mariners from British 
ports and from harbours across the Atlantic, have been 
many of those true lovers of the sea to whom the sailor's 
life, if the most dangerous of avocations, is also the 
most alluring. These are ready to exclaim, with Childe 
Harold — 

Once more upon the waters ! yet once more ! 
And the waves hound beneath me as a steed 
That knows his rider. Welcome to their roar ! 
Swift be their guidance, wheresoever it lead, 

Though the strained mast should quiver as a reed. 
And the rent canvas fluttering strew the gale. 

5 



PREFACE 

Of Adventures on the High Seas the tales are endless, 
and in these chapters are gathered stories, as true as they 
are thrilling, of most various character : stories of the 
exploits, the achievements, the failures, and the disasters 
of honest mariners and plundering corsairs, of peaceful 
merchantmen and ships of war, of the voyager for 
pleasure and the intrepid explorer ; with many a tale 
of storm, of fire at sea, of fog, or frozen ocean and wan- 
dering iceberg, of hunger and thirst and exposure, and 
of splendid rescue by stout-armed and stouter-hearted 
lifeboatmen. 

The author desires to acknowledge with thanks the 
kindness of the authors and publishers who have granted 
him permission to make use of their works : Mr. N. H. 
Bishop, Mr. Antonio D. Lussick, Mr. David Douglas, 
and Mr. T. Fisher Unwin. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 
A whaler's terrible experiences 

PAGE 

The whaling disasters of 1836 — The Dee of Aberdeen — Un- 
favourable weather in Baffin's Bay — Winter sets in — No 
outlet from the ice — Attempts to find a passage — Allowance 
of food reduced — Frozen in — The Dee in a very dangerous 
place — Huge icebergs — Shocks and crushes — Two days of 
terrible exposure — A dock cut for the Dee — Dock breaks in — 
A second basin cut — Collapses also — Continuous night begun 
— The Thomas breaks up — Excellent conduct of the men — 
Disease — Only fifteen sound men on the Dee — Death of cap- 
tain and others — Dee drifts southward — Colder weather — 
The open sea ! — A dreadful voyage — Dee reaches Aberdeen — 
Forty-six deaths . . . . . . 17 

CHAPTER II 

THE FATE OF THE IVAGER 

Anson commands an expedition against the Spanish possessions 
— Start from the Isle of Wight — Cape Horn rounded — The 
fleet scattered — The Wager missing — Wager wrecked — 
Riotous conduct of the crew — A desolate and inhospitable 
country — Terrible scenes on board the wreck — The mutineers 
also go ashore — Great difficulty in getting provisions ashore — 
Serious differences between captain and men — Violent quarrels 
— A midshipman shot by the captain — Crew arrest the captain 
on a charge of murder — Long-boat prepared— Eighty men 
embark, and leave behind the captain and nineteen others — 
Sufferings from famine by those left behind — An attempt to 
reach Juan Fernandez — Disastrous expedition — Four men 
have to be left on the desert coast — A bargain with an Indian 
canoe owner — Six of the Wager men make off with the canoe 
— Five survivors — Dreadful sufferings — Byron's experiences 
— Another bargain for a canoe — Landed on Chiloe Island — 
Kindness of the people — Spanish prisoners — Return to 
England — Only four survivors — Fate of the eighty deserters 28 

CHAPTER III 

A FAMOUS MUTINY 

Captain Cook and his followers — The Bounty, Lieutenant Bligh, 
sails for the Pacific — A long stay at Otaheite — A mutiny 
caused through commander's harshness — Bligh and eighteen 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

others turned adrift in small boat — With difficulty Timor, 
and then England, reached by the castaways — Fletcher 
Christian chosen captain of the Bounty — The mutineers and 
the Otaheitans — Dissensions among- the mutineers — Sixteen 
men remain behind at Otaheite — Bounty sails away, and is 
lost sight of — Pandora frigate sent from England in search — 
Reaches Otaheite — Pandora wrecked on the Great Barrier 
Reef — Inhumanity to the Bounty prisoners — The mutineers 
court-martialled — Discoveries on Pitcairn Island — A remark- 
able story — Description of the island and its inhabitants . 39 

CHAPTER IV 

ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

The "Open Polar Sea" — Dr. Hayes — In Smith's Sound — Blown 
out again — In an ice lane — Hemmed in — A terrible crush — 
Lifted by the ice — A time of suspense — The ship rights itself 
— A walrus hunt — Rifles and harpoon at work — Desperate 
attack on the sportsmen — A lively quarter of an hour — A 
splendid specimen — Explorer travels 450 miles over ice in 
sledge — The "northernmost bit of land on the globe" — The 
" Open Polar Sea" . . ... 51 

CHAPTER V 

DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

Lord Dundonald — "Worthy to stand with Blake" — His naval 
exploits — In command of the Speedy — A torment to the 
Spaniard — Attacked by the Gamo — Boarding with blackened 
faces — Capture of the Gamo — Cochrane's wonderful career 
with the Speedy — Also with the Pallas — Fireship operations 
against French — Subordinate to Lord Gambier — The French 
boom and its defences — Fireships and explosion vessels — 
The first of the explosion ships fired by Cochrane himself— 
Terrific result — Mediator sails through broken boom — Its 
captain blown out of his ship — Thirteen French vessels 
stranded — More destruction by the English — Gambier refuses 
help — Gambier court-martialled, but acquitted — Cochrane 
dismissed— Offers his sword to the foreigner . . . 63 

CHAPTER VI 

A "COFFIN SHIP" 

"Coffin ships" — The Melville Castle — Starts with troops and 
stores for the East — A hurricane — Mainmast gone— In Sand- 
gate Bay — A leak — All hands to the pumps — A warning from 
a Dover pilot — Astounding parsimony — Two more warnings 
— Ship crashes upon one of the groynes — Pumps abandoned 
— Ship's back broken! — 170 persons perish — Jolly-boat 
swamped — A raft made, but at once overturned — Bowsprit 
breaks off— Two men escape on hogshead — A second raft — 
Eighteen survivors out of 454 . . 75 

8 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VII 

THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

PAGE 

What a typhoon is — Hong- Kong-, September 18th, 1906 — The 
first news — Crowded harbour — The tornado comes with 
terrific force — Huge waves — Thousands of ships and boats 
sunk — A letter from an old schoolboy — The Governor's first 
report — An American steamer landed high beyond the sea- 
wall — Fearful loss of life — The Fatshan steamer — A plucky 
captain — A hundred and fifty lives saved by three men — The 
vessel safely beached — The Heung Shan — First mate swims 
ashore with line — Saves three hundred Chinese — Violence on 
board — Loss of life — A renewal of the storm — The Bishop 
among the victims — Splendid efforts of the authorities — The 
aftermath . . . ... 86 

CHAPTER VIII 

A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 
The Doggerbank — The Hull fleets — Russian Baltic fleet on its 
way to Japan — A bad attack of nerves — The warships 
approach — Searchlights turned on — Firing suddenly com- 
menced — Showers of shot and shell — The Moidmein and the 
Mino — The Swift and its skipper — A terrible scene on board 
the Crane — Death of the skipper and mate — The vessel sink- 
ing — Gull comes up to help — An awful spectacle — Firing 
suddenly stopped — The report of the doctor on the Hospital 
Mission ship — Russians steam away — Indignation universal 
— The Russian version of the story — "All their own fault" . 96 

CHAPTER IX 

THE WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

Two East Indiamen, a contrast — The Halsewell — A fine ship — A 
gale in the Channel — On a lee shore — Five feet of water in 
the hold — Fall of the mainmast — Driving fast on a rock- 
bound coast — Ship strikes — An affrighted party in the round- 
house — Men leap over the side — Attempts to get a spar to the 
cliff — Brave attempt by the first mate — First mate slips into 
sea — Hurled into a cavern — Seized by unseen hands — Escape 
on a hen-coop — The final catastrophe — A night in a miserable 
cave — A perilous climb — Rescue by quarrymen — The rescued 107 

CHAPTER X 

ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

Buccaneers, pirates, filibusters — The buccaneers turn into pirates 
— Bartholomew Roberts, one of the last of the buccaneer- 
pirates — Captured by pirates — Chosen captain — Revenges 
the death of his predecessor — Attack on a fort — A slack time 
— Attacks forty-two trading ships and a man-of-war — 
Cowardice of the Portuguese — A rich prize — Escape from a 



CONTENTS 

Martinique sloop— The biter bitten — Judge and jury on board 
the pirate — A shipload of negroes burnt alive — Chased by 
the cruiser Swallow — Companion ship captured — Roberts 
attacked by the Swallow — Death of Roberts — The Royal 
Forttme taken, and pirate crew hanged — End of the gang — 
A magnificent scoundrel . . ... 

CHAPTER XI 

TWO THOUSAND MILES IN A PAPER CANOE 
North American bays and estuaries — Mr. Bishop starts from 
Quebec in a canoe — How a paper boat is made — Weight 
fifty-eight pounds only — In Delaware Bay — Big rollers — 
Swamped, and upside down — Blindly swimming — A hard 
struggle — Boat follows — A cool change of clothes — Rough 
seas off the Virginian coast — A desolate and cheerless shore — 
Musk-rats and oyster-coons — The storm in Pamplico Sound — 
The yacht Julia — A wreck-strewn coast — Chased by porpoises 
— An alligator at close quarters — The Gulf of Mexico . 

CHAPTER XII 

A "LEVANTER" 
An American writer stranded at Smyrna — Takes passage for 
Malta in the Metamora — A big gale blows up — Under bare 
poles — The cabin a-wash — "On deck for your life!" — A 
jagged precipice in front — Saved! — Holding on while 
asleep — Two days and nights in the dangerous Archipelago 
— Nearing Malta — A great difficulty in landing the passen- 
ger — Unselfish conduct of the crew — Exhausted men haul 
out the heavy long-boat — Landed on the quarantine steps of 
Malta — Gallant and kindly skipper and crew 

CHAPTER XIII 

THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

Captain Vancouver — The Discovery and the Chatham sail for 
the Pacific — An early circumnavigator — Always tries to con- 
ciliate the savages — At Nootka Sound — A sudden attack by 
canoes — English boats in danger — The war dress and 
weapons of the Indians — Savages attempt to grab everything 
— Indians seize the boat — An odd mask — Savages egged on 
by an old woman — A lively time for Vancouver — His en- 
deavours to preserve peace — Two sailors badly wounded — 
Orders to fire — Hasty and ludicrous flight — Attack from the 
top of the cliff— Reconciliation — A friendly visit from the 
chiefs — A squabble between two native factions — A savage 
sea-fight averted . . . ... 

CHAPTER XIV 

ENGLISH BARQUES AND LA PLATAN SHOALS 
The "English Bank" — The Aglaia — Risky salvage operations 
— She floats again — Hawsers snap — Rescue of the crew 
by the tug Plata — Destruction of the Aglaia — Another vessel 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

on the Bank — A dash to the rescue — Fruitless attempts — 
Tugs return to Monte Video for coal — To the rescue again — 
Second failure — A third attempt — The barque not to be seen ! 
— A search and a find — Plata creeps to within sixty yards of 
the wreck — Franco goes off in small boat — Rescues four 
men — His second trip rescues five — Third trip brings off the 
remaining four — A bump and a splintered stern-post — Full 
steam on and pumps working — All safe in port — Rewards 
from the British Government . ... 169 

CHAPTER XV 

A LONDON JACK-TAR 

James Choyce — Prentice on board whaler — Wooden guns ! — A 
risky swimming lesson — Taken prisoner by the Spanish — 
A canoe seized — Upset — Sufferings from want of water — A 
raid on a water-carrier — A stream — Caught by the Spaniards 
— A fresh plan— The Lucky Escape — Mule-drivers attempt to 
lasso the sailors — A Spanish brig seized — A course set for 
Galapagos Islands — A drunken crew — Threats — Anxious 
days — A dark outlook for Choyce — " Land ho I " — Free men 
at last . . . . ... 181 

CHAPTER XVI 

CROSSING THE LINE 

Crossing the line in former days — On board an East Indiaman, 
in 1814 — Nearing the Equator — A visit from the representa- 
tive of the sailors — Three " razors " — An obstinate steerage 
passenger — Neptune and his car — Amphitrite and the 
Tritons — The ship's doctor the first victim — The cabin 
passenger called up — " I paid for No. 1 " — Not to be drawn 
— Retaliation — Chased and soused — The steerage passenger 
— Strikes out — A rush for the captain's cabin — Skipper inter- 
feres — A recalcitrant victim — A well-wielded trident — 
Ducked in the sea — Almost drowned — Broken heads — The 
vigorous resister comes off triumphant . . . 194 

CHAPTER XVII 

A SHIP ON FIRE 

The Amazon on her first voyage — Heated bearings — An ominous 
misfortune — "Fire!" in the middle of the night — Rush on 
deck — Engines cannot be stopped — Hose and pumps de- 
stroyed — "To the boats!" — Terrible disaster in the launching 
— Third and fourth attempts — Mother and child cling to the 
thwarts — Boat launched at last — Lifeboat safely off — She 
picks up five men from the dingy — The end of the Amazon — 
Sufferings of those in the boats — A brutal captain — One 
boat-load picked up and carried to Plymouth — Another to 
Brest — A third boat found next day — A fourth batch of sur- 
vivors landed a fortnight later — The loss of life — Wreck of 
the A?nazon a memorable one — Heroism of the ship's officers 205 

II 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XVIII 

THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

The Prince, a French East Indiaman — Fire discovered in the 
hold — Desperate efforts to smother the fire — Fire spreads 
rapidly — Soldiers drawn up on deck — Seven men get away 
in the yawl — Mishap to the long-boat — Men and women 
frantic — The chaplain gives all absolution — The Prince heels 
partly over — Danger from the cannon — Lieutenant de la 
Fond — Slips into the sea — Grasped by a drowning soldier — 
The lieutenant's unselfishness — His terrible struggles — He 
tries to help and encourage on all sides — Mainmast falls and 
crushes many — Guns still discharging and killing — The ship 
explodes — All lost save those in the yawl — A marvellous 
voyage across the Atlantic — They reach Brazil — Well treated 
by the Portuguese — Return to France 

CHAPTER XIX 

THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 
Terrific hurricane at Samoa — The harbour of Apia — Seven 
warships there — The German ship Eber drags her anchors — 
Overwhelmed with nearly her entire crew — The Adlers fate 
— The American vessel Nipsic beached — The wreck of the 
Vandalia — Captain knocked senseless and swept away — 
The Trenton and the Olga — The British Calliope — Her 
captain determines to attempt to run out — Collisions — 
" Every pound of steam" — But only half a knot an hour — 
Safe outside the harbour — Calliope back at Samoa — Runs 
for Sydney — Immense enthusiasm — " Nerve and decision" . 

CHAPTER XX 

THE ROMANCE OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE 
"The triumph of our age" — Mr. Cyrus Field and the Atlantic 
Cable project — The Niagara and the Agamemnon leave 
Valentia with the cable — Haps and mishaps — The cable 
breaks ! — Another attempt — Ships meet in mid-Atlantic — A 
violent storm — Splicing operations — A huge whale fouls the 
cable ! — Breakage and loss of cable — A return to England 
for more — Success — Messages across the Atlantic — Cable 
ceases to " speak" — The Great Eastern — Takes new coil on 
board — More mishaps — Suspicions of foul play — All goes 
merrily till two-thirds of the work is done — Cable breaks — 
Fishing for a million of money — A second rope also breaks — 
A third and last try — Forging a grapnel, a weird scene on 
board — Another failure — The cable of 1866 — Great Eastern 
reaches Newfoundland — The cable of 1865 recovered and 
completed — A magnificent work . ... 

CHAPTER XXI 

WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

Icebergs in the Atlantic — The Lady Hobart — Leaves Halifax for 
England — Strikes on an iceberg in the night — A hasty rush 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

to the boats — The mails thrown overboard — Ship sinks — 
Emptying- a rum cask — Danger from a school of whales — A 
course set for Newfoundland — Other icebergs — A gale — The 
two boats separated — A sail ! — A delirious man tied down — 
Another jumps overboard — The captain ill — Another gale — 
Signs of land — Newfoundland at last . ... 252 

CHAPTER XXII 

THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

The Alceste and the Lyra in the Canton estuary — A critical time 
— Insults from the Canton Viceroy — Visit from a mandarin, 
who promises a "Chop" — A second mandarin — A game of 
bluff — John Bull begins to roar — The frigate opposed by war- 
junks — British open fire — A telling shot — Attack on the shore 
batteries — Battery knocked to pieces — The first-class Chop 
arrives in haste — Maxwell with four men rows to Canton — 
The Lyra surrounded by junks — Threatening neighbours — 
" Pigeon English" — Flight of the Chinese commodore — The 
British ships masters of the situation . ... 263 

CHAPTER XXIII 

A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 
The England) a Newcastle timber vessel — Leaves Quebec — A 
beautiful aurora borealis — A fearful hurricane — The wheel 
shattered — Ship full of water — The timber cargo keeps her 
afloat — Crew take to the rigging — The intense cold — Famine 
staring the men in the face — A terrible Christmas and New 
Year — A sail — Jolly-boat in chase, but misses it — Another 
sail — Boat off again — The boat lost and in a fog — Picked up 
by a brig — In search of the England — Found at last — Landed 
on one of the Azores . . ... 275 

CHAPTER XXIV 

A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 
Mr. Caunter, an English clergyman — Takes ship at Calcutta for 
Madras — A forbidding-looking skipper — Fishing for sharks — 
A storm brewing — The Lascar sailors become useless — Gun 
breaks loose — Loosens a heavy drip-stone — The mate lassoes 
the gun — A fearful sea on board — Lady swept out of her 
cabin — The skipper to the rescue — A night alarm for the 
clergyman — Up to his shoulders and clinging for life — Ship 
full of water— Ports opened — Water escapes, and the ship 
rights herself — Skulking Lascars — A rope's-end argument — 
Storm abates — Off Madras — A heavy surf— A boat turns a 
somersault — All saved . . . . . 287 

CHAPTER XXV 

BRITISH WARSHIPS IN RUSSIAN SEAS 

The combined British and French navies in the Crimean War 
— A terrific storm — The chief theatres of the naval operations 
— A little British gunboat chases three Russian ships — A 

13 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

queer floating battery — British and French sailors fraternise 
— Guns hurled into the sea— A blaze of forts — A plucky in- 
ventor — Russian ships after the fall of Sebastopol — Prepara- 
tions to destroy — Britishers at work in the dark — A big- 
Russian anchors close to the spot — "We are going to catch 
it ! " — All the Russian ships fired by themselves — Except one, 
and that is scuttled — A demonstration before Odessa — 
Reconnoitring the Bug estuary — Dutch courage— A puff of 
white smoke — A lively time . . ... 299 

CHAPTER XXVI 

AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE SEVENTY YEARS AGO 
The United States Exploring Expedition of 1836 — Captains 
Wilkes and Hudson — Vessels leave Sydney for Antarctic 
Ocean — The ice barrier reached — Coasting along it west- 
ward — " Ice ahead ! " — A fright for Wilkes — Battle between 
a huge "killer" and a whale — The Peacock^ Captain Hudson, 
battered by ice-floes — The ice-anchors at work — Rudder 
broken — An avalanche of ice and snow — A small boat be- 
tween two closing icebergs — In a deep ice-bay — Out again 
— Vessel badly shattered — The Vincennes in a region of 
icebergs — Men unable to go on with their work — The danger 
from the grinding bergs — A perilous passage between two ice- 
islands — A terrible night — Land seen beyond the ice barrier 311 

CHAPTER XXVII 

AN ENGLISH LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 
Lady Hester Stanhope — Embarks in the Jason frigate for the 
East — Almost wrecked off Trafalgar — Passage in the Cerberus 
from Gibraltar to Malta — On a Greek ship in the Sea of 
Marmora — A model crew ! — The Turk and his gun — A violent 
hurricane between Rhodes and Alexandria — Aristocrats at 
the buckets — Lady Hester's pluck — Vessel heels gunwale 
down — Long-boat launched — All land on a tiny rock — Skipper 
and men go off to Rhodes in the boat — Rescued from the 
rock — Swamped — A wretched shelter — To Alexandria in 
the Salsette — Tempest-driven again — Shot at by Turkish 
soldiers— Prisoners in a block-house — Profuse apologies . 323 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 
Viscount Exmouth — The Indefatigable aground — Ready decision 
— How to deal with skulkers — An extraordinary examination 
of the ship — A wrecked cutter — A leap to the rescue — 
Wounded and in a critical position— Saving the men of the 
Dutton — A truly modest report — A mutiny on board the 
Indefatigable — Nerve and decision — Mutiny on the Impdtueux 
— An execution — Battle with the Droits de Vhomme — Splendid 
seamanship — A fearful story — Bombardment of Algiers — 
Marvellous daring . . . ... 333 

14 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Catching a Tartar . 

Almost nipped in the Ice 

Cast adrift by Mutineers . 

Attacked by Walruses 

An attack by Fire-ships 

The awful power of the Typhoon. 

An unparalleled Scene 

A narrow Escape 

An astonishing Effect 

A fight with Lassoes 

A plucky Mother 

In the teeth of a Cyclone at Samoa 

Pursued by Whales . 

A precarious Lodging 

A risky Attempt 

In danger of Foundering . 

J 5 



Frontispiece 

page 20 

42 

58 

70 

9° 

100 

„ 118 

164 

190 

„ 212 

234 

„ 254 

„ 278 

290 

» 326 



ADVENTUBES ON THE 
HIGH SEAS 



CHAPTER I 

A WHALER'S TERRIBLE 
EXPERIENCES 

The whaling disasters of 1836 — The Dee of Aberdeen — Unfavourable 
weather in Baffin's Bay — Winter sets in— No outlet from the ice — 
Attempts to find a passage — Allowance of food reduced — Frozen 
in — The Dee in a very dangerous place — Huge icebergs— Shocks 
and crushes — Two days of terrible exposure — A dock cut for the 
Dee — Dock breaks in — A second basin cut — Collapses also— Con- 
tinuous night begun— The Thomas breaks up — Excellent conduct 
of the men — Disease — Only fifteen sound men on the Dee — Death 
of captain and others — Dee drifts southward — Colder weather — 
The open sea !— A dreadful voyage— Dee reaches Aberdeen— Forty- 
six deaths. 

AMONGST the most thrilling of sea narratives may 
always be reckoned those which tell of a wintering 
^ in the Polar seas, with its dangers and sufferings. 
There are very few stories more remarkable than those of 
the great Arctic explorers — a Frobisher, a Franklin, a 
Nansen — and certainly few that have been more widely 
read. No one can fail to be interested in the doings, and 
an admirer of the pluck, of these famous navigators. 
And there are other Arctic heroes, humbler perhaps, and 
unknown to the world at large, but whose story hardly 
b 17 



A WHALERS EXPERIENCES 

less deserves to be told. Conspicuous among these undis- 
tinguished but still gallant seamen are the whalers who 
every year ply their hazardous occupation in the northern 
oceans, and who in times not so long gone by were still 
more numerous. No finer fellows ever sailed a ship than 
the sturdy whale-fishers of our northern and eastern coasts. 

Few misfortunes in the ice-bound regions have more 
keenly agitated the country than those met with by the 
Dee, Aberdeen whaler, and her companions the Norfolk, 
the Advice, and the Grenville Bay, in the years 1836-7. 
The Dee was commanded by Captain Gamblin, with a 
crew of thirty- three men and officers. The ship was 
fortunate enough to carry a surgeon of an excellent type, 
Mr. Littlejohn. At Stromness, in the Orkneys, sixteen 
more hands were shipped, and then the Dee was steered 
for Davis Strait and the whaling district, which was 
reached on May 15th. 

The preparations for the commencement of the fish- 
ing were considerably interfered with by unfavourable 
weather ; and besides this, icebergs began to appear, 
greatly hindering navigation. This state of things 
continued for two or three weeks, the weather not im- 
proving, and the icebergs becoming ever more numerous. 
No whales were seen as yet, though by this time latitude 
66° N. had been reached, and the vessel was headed for 
North-East Bay and the Frow Islands. It being found 
impossible to make progress towards the west, as Captain 
Gamblin had desired, the course was changed to north- 
east, and after nearly a week of fairly good sailing, the 
open waters of the north were reached. By this time the 
Dee had eleven other vessels for company. 

The first whale was secured in Pond's Bay, an inlet on 
the western shore of Baffin's Bay, and soon the fish ap- 

18 



A WHALER'S EXPERIENCES 

peared in plenty. No great amount of success fell to the 
Dee, but some of the other whalers made extraordinary 
catches. The season was now, however, somewhat ad- 
vanced — it was by this time the month of September — 
and winter seemed to be setting in early. Already the 
ice was beginning to be troublesome, and Captain Gamblin 
determined to start for home. So far there had been 
nothing much out of the usual course of whaling experi- 
ences. 

But Gamblin was presently a good deal perturbed by a 
report from the captain of the Grenville Bay, a ship he 
fell in with, to the effect that, so far as could be ascer- 
tained, there was no outlet from the Polar Sea. Another 
vessel, the Norfolk ; now joined the company, and the 
three skippers resolved to keep together, so far as they 
might be able. The master of the Dee, fearing that his 
stock of provisions might not hold out through the long 
winter, should it be their ill-fortune to be ice-bound, put 
his men on reduced allowance. It had been the passage 
to the east that the Grenville Bay had attempted in vain, 
and accordingly the three captains now tried that to the 
north, and in due course a point as high as 75° was 
reached. Leaving the neighbourhood of Cape Melville, 
where the ice was becoming too troublesome, an attempt 
was made to wear south, and with difficulty latitude 71° 
was attained. By the end of September the whalers had 
fallen in with two more vessels, the Advice and the 
Thomas, both of Dundee. Strenuous efforts were at once 
made to find a clear passage out, but to no purpose. It 
was ascertained, moreover, that many other ships had been 
in the same plight, no fewer than eight anchor marks 
being observed on the ice in different spots. The efforts 
to escape from the ice-bound sea were redoubled. 

19 



A WHALER'S EXPERIENCES 

The only piece of open water now to be seen stretched 
away to northward, strange to say, and, after a conference, 
the five skippers resolved to steer in that direction once 
more. The weather became wretched and the vessels had 
to be anchored to huge pieces of ice for safety. By this 
time it had become certain that the winter would have to 
be spent out in the frozen seas, and the allowance of pro- 
visions to the men was still further reduced. All that was 
left to the captains was to seek the best available place 
for a winter station, and the ships moved away for that 
purpose. A calm came on, however, and the vessels were 
frozen in, within sight of each other. The position was 
the mouth of Baffin's Bay, in latitude 73°, or thereabouts. 
The day was October 8th, 1836. The ice was almost at 
once strong enough to admit of the men passing from one 
ship to another. 

Unfortunately for the Dee, to which vessel we may now 
give our chief attention, the spot where she lay seemed to 
be subject to special disturbances below the surface, and 
the dangers from the movements of the ice were con- 
sequently greater than those that threatened the com- 
panion vessels. The result was an increase in the 
anxieties and sufferings of her crew. Indeed, as it 
happened, the men of the Dee were fated to undergo 
greater hardships than the rest of the whalers, and their 
peculiar difficulties began from this time. A main cause 
of trouble was the scarcity of fuel, and no coal was used 
save that needed for the bare cooking operations. Exer- 
cises of all kinds had to be invented to keep the sailors 
warm, amongst them being the unshipping of the rudder 
and the unbending of the sails, all of no actual use, of 
course. But useful or useless, such things had to be done 
or the men would have frozen. Still worse, the beds grew 

20 




Almost nipped in the Ice 

The crews werealarmed by two frightful grindinj shocks in quick succession, and 
pell-mell they hurried overboard, taking with them anything portable they could lay 
their hands on. 



A WHALER'S EXPERIENCES 

terribly damp, and in spite of themselves the poor fellows 
were unable to keep the heat in their shivering bodies. 

The frost continued very severe, yet, oddly enough, the 
ice about the Dee remained loose, and the captain was 
constantly in fear lest his ship should be crushed by the 
grinding noes. Huge icebergs, too, drifted past, of them- 
selves a source of dread to the whalers. At last even this 
vessel was frozen in and the crush began. At times the 
masses of ice piled themselves all round the craft till they 
reached above the hull. Ominous cracks began to be 
heard and several crushes took place. Everything that 
could be done was done to strengthen the timbers. 
Strong beams were put across the after part of the vessel, 
and use was made even of the casks, which were in- 
geniously arranged across the hold so as to help in resist- 
ing the crushing force without, a clever notion on the part 
of the officers. 

The step was taken none too soon. On October 20th 
the crew were alarmed by two frightful grinding shocks in 
quick succession, and pell-mell they fled out of their ship 
to the ice, hastily carrying with them whatever portable 
thing they could lay hands on — provisions, beds, clothing, 
chests, bags. For two days did the luckless fellows remain 
in that terrible situation. " Without fire, or shelter from 
the biting elements, the crew lay on the ice, gazing on 
their reeling and groaning vessel, while around them were 
extended vast fields of ice, studded with icebergs towering 
to the clouds, and threatening destruction to all that came 
in the way of their motions." All this while the other 
whalers, at a distance, experienced nothing especially 
alarming. 

Unexpectedly lanes now opened in the ice — a very bad 
sign. The men went on board again, with a view to 

21 



A WHALER'S EXPERIENCES 

securing the rest of their provisions. But a stampede 
instantly followed, the crush suddenly coming with a 
greater shock than any previous one. Another spell of 
exposure and suffering on the ice, and then the crew 
managed to get the Dee into an open piece of water. Once 
more they went on board, but so weak were they that they 
could scarce carry their belongings thither. 

Captain Gamblin now bethought him of another plan, 
to cut out a clear place for the ship, a sort of dock, in 
fact, in which she might float uninjured by the ice around. 
The method adopted for the making of the dock was this. 
The point of a long and heavy ice-saw was driven by sheer 
force through the ice, something after the fashion of pile- 
driving, by repeated blows on the head of the instrument. 
Once through, the saw was moved up and down by the 
exertions of the men, its own weight or an extra weight 
attached to the point helping to carry it downwards. A 
piece of the ice was thus cut completely round, and the loose 
portion lifted out of the way. The hole was constantly 
enlarged till at length a basin big enough to float the 
vessel was formed. But it was terrible work for the poor 
fellows. Standing constantly in the water, as they were, 
their feet were shockingly frost-bitten, and they had to be 
rubbed long and laboriously with snow to save them at all. 
The crew of the Dee were helped in the dock-making by 
volunteers from the Grenmlle Bay. In spite of all 
difficulties the saws were kept well at work, andr at length 
the ship swam safely in her own basin. 

Another heavy task for the men was that of fetching, 
from a distance of three miles, ice from the nearest berg. 
This ice was fresh, and it was melted down for water, the 
stored stock of which was running low. The labour of 
bringing the ice from such a distance, over the roughest of 

22 



A WHALER'S EXPERIENCES 

tracks, was severe in the extreme ; and, moreover, the men 
were in danger of being attacked by bears, of which several 
were now seen, and there was more than one narrow escape. 
Unfortunately none of the animals could be secured. 

Thus miserably the month of October wore away. Yet, 
as a matter of fact, and looked at by the light of their 
after experiences, the ultimate survivors were of opinion 
that up to the beginning of November they had been in 
fairly good case. And certainly there was far worse in 
store for the poor fellows. First, their comparative comfort 
at that time was rudely disturbed by the sudden breaking 
in of the ice upon their dock, and the labour, harder than 
before even, had all to be gone through again. Meanwhile 
the supply of fuel had come to an end, and one of the 
boats had to be broken up to get the wherewithal to cook 
the scanty allowance of food. " A bear and two foxes 
were seen, but made their escape, to the great disappoint- 
ment of the men, who longed to taste fresh food. What 
a delicacy even fox flesh would have been, may be con- 
ceived from the fact, that the tails of the whales on board 
were cooked and eaten with great relish by the men." 

November 15th arrived, and for the first time the sun 
did not rise above the horizon. The long, long Arctic 
night had begun. For many weeks — nay, the time might 
be reckoned by months — the whalers would have to endure 
the cold and darkness of those high latitudes. The 
captain about this time gave to each of his crew a yard of 
stout canvas, to be made into shoes, this additional 
protection for the feet proving a great comfort. But the 
general health of the men was beginning to give much 
anxiety. " Coughs, swelled limbs, and general debility, 
with small red discolorations on the skin, sharp pains and 
stiffness, were the common symptoms." 

23 



A WHALER'S EXPERIENCES 

The Thomas, one of the companion vessels, suddenly 
heeled over one day, under pressure of the ice — a fatal 
catastrophe. Within a short time the ship broke up 
completely, the crew on the ice suffering fearfully before 
they could be carried on board the other ships. Two 
of the crew died actually on the ice, from the exposure. 
It was fortunate that it was found possible to get out the 
provisions and other stores from the TJiomas before she 
went quite to pieces. The men were divided among the 
other vessels, and the food apportioned correspondingly. 
But the work of removing the goods, which was under- 
taken by the crews of the Dee and the Advice, was very 
severe, and the whole company of sailors was much dis- 
heartened by the deaths, the first that had happened 
amongst them. 

It was, in fact, the exposure to the wet and cold during 
the three days spent in clearing the wreck of the Thomas 
that brought on the severe illness that now attacked 
nearly all the men. Scurvy, always a dreaded disease 
under such conditions, began to run riot among the 
different crews, and by the middle of December more than 
a score were down with it on board the Dee, most of them 
so ill that they had to keep to their beds. The Christmas 
was signalised by the cutting down still further of the 
daily ration, and the New Year was a time of despondency, 
many of the men realising now that they would never see 
their homes again. The doctor did everything in his 
power to alleviate the sufferings of those down with scurvy, 
but he could not work miracles. The only cure was fresh 
meat and vegetables, and these, of course, could not be 
had. 

Hitherto the conduct of the men had been excellent. 
Now they went in a body to Captain Gamblin to ask for 

24 



A WHALER'S EXPERIENCES 

a more satisfying allowance. The skipper, willing as he 
was to grant their demands, thought it prudent to husband 
his stock of provisions, and told his men so. He added 
that they could, of course, take what they wished by 
force, yet he trusted they would remain as well-behaved 
as heretofore. To their great credit, the sailors refrained 
from any act of insubordination, and as a reward for their 
good conduct the captain doled out to each a little 
additional meal, a thing that caused a rejoicing out of all 
proportion to the smallness of the gift, so severe had the 
privations become. On January 6th the sky grew bril- 
liantly bright, to the delight of all ; the sun was heralding 
his own return, so to speak. 

We may pass quickly over the next few weeks. Day 
by day the sickness became more rife and more severe ; 
their sufferings grew worse ; deaths came quickly one after 
another. Then, most serious blow of all, Captain Gamblin 
himself, who had hitherto borne up and done his work 
splendidly, fell so seriously ill that he could no longer 
manage the ship, and the chief mate had to assume com- 
mand. He at once took the precaution to reef the top- 
sails, fearing lest he should be left without sufficient men 
to perform the task when they should get out once more 
to the open sea, if ever that good fortune should be theirs. 
As it was, only fifteen men were equal to the duty. 

On January 16th the sun appeared for the first time — 
a joyful sight to the captain and his men. But the former 
was not to see many more sunrises, poor fellow. On Feb- 
ruary 3rd, to the intense grief of his crew, the worthy 
master of the Dee died. His was the sixth death that 
had occurred among the ship's company. 

By this time, according to observations made, the vessel 
had drifted some degrees to the south, actually from 

25 



A WHALER'S EXPERIENCES 

latitude 73° to 69°. And the drifting was still going on 
so that before long the Dee was in latitude 67°, and 
presently as far south as 63°. It might naturally be 
expected that the cold would now be less severe, but the 
experience of the whalers was quite otherwise. The 
temperature fell to a point so low that no liquid could be 
kept from freezing, and there were huge icicles within six 
feet of the fire. Disease, weakness, and death at last 
reduced the number of capable hands on board the Dee 
to six. 

The worst had certainly come to the poor wretches im- 
prisoned in the northern ice. A change was at hand for 
them. Day by day they were drifting southward, the 
other vessels following, but at a slower rate. Seeing that 
he might any day expect to get out clear, the mate of the 
Dee sent to the Grenville Bay for help to navigate the 
ship. But the captain had not a man to spare, most 
of his own crew being down with illness. The Advice 
and the Norfolk were too far back. 

At last, after her terrible imprisonment of more than 
five months, the Dee floated out into the open waters and 
was once more free. With rejoicing hearts the mate and 
his crew turned their course homewards, cheered by the 
prospect of a speedy return to their native land and their 
friends. Alas ! they little knew what was in store for 
them. Few of them were destined to see Scotland and 
their dear ones again. The scurvy began to rage more 
furiously than ever, and notwithstanding that the winds 
were entirely favourable, and that consequently rapid pro- 
gress towards home was being made, the deaths increased 
to a terrible degree. In the course of about a month no 
fewer than twenty of the crew of the Dee fell victims to 
disease and exhaustion. 

26 



A WHALER'S EXPERIENCES 

There were also disappointments of a different kind, 
even at the very last stages of their long voyage. A sail 
was seen, but to their great grief the whalers were unable 
to attract attention. Then a fishing-vessel was spoken, 
and help earnestly besought, but the smack went off and 
left the hapless sailors unaided. The fishermen no doubt 
dreaded some pestilence on board the Dee. 

The end of their troubles was, however, at hand. That 
same evening a Dundee barque came to their assistance, 
and her captain was horrified to find that only three 
of the whaler's men were able to go aloft. Nothing could 
exceed his kindness. The ship was carried to Stromness, 
and then to her own port, Aberdeen, which was reached 
after an absence of over thirteen months. 

The three companion vessels all reached Scotland in 
safety, the crew in each case having undergone its share 
of hardships and sufferings. Strange to say, though the 
Government had sent out ships in search of the missing 
whalers, not one of them was met with. 

Many are the harrowing stories that have been told from 
time to time of the terrible experiences of our whaling 
crews, but the disasters of the years 1836 and 1837 will 
long stand out conspicuous for their lengthened horrors. 
And not for those alone; the bravery of the crews in- 
volved, their readiness to suffer and to do, and their ex- 
cellent behaviour all through, will always be remarkable, 
even among British crews. 



27 



CHAPTER II 
THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

Anson commands an expedition against the Spanish possessions — 
Start from the Isle of Wight — Cape Horn rounded — The fleet 
scattered — The Wager missing — Wager wrecked — Riotous conduct 
of the crew — A desolate and inhospitable country — Terrible scenes 
on board the wreck — The mutineers also go ashore — Great diffi- 
culty in getting provisions ashore— Serious differences between 
captain and men— Violent quarrels — A midshipman shot by the 
captain— Crew arrest the captain on a charge of murder — Long- 
boat prepared— Eighty men embark, and leave behind the captain 
and nineteen others — Sufferings from famine by those left behind 
—An attempt to reach Juan Fernandez— Disastrous expedition — 
Four men have to be left on the desert coast — A bargain with an 
Indian canoe owner— Six of the Wager men make off with the 
canoe— Five survivors— Dreadful sufferings— Byron's experiences 
— Another bargain for a canoe — Landed on Chiloe Island — Kind- 
ness of the people— Spanish prisoners — Return to England— Only 
four survivors— Fate of the eighty deserters. 

ON the 18th of September, 1740, a large fleet set 
sail from St. Helen's in the Isle of Wight with a 
commission to harry the Spanish colonies and 
make matters as unpleasant for them as possible. A 
better commander for this purpose than Anson could not 
have been found, and his name has come down to us not 
only as an intrepid leader, but also for the invaluable 
narrative of his voyagings and discoveries. 

The fleet, though numerically strong, had its weak 
points, and the weakest appears to have been the Wager, 
Without following the details of the voyage, it may be 

28 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

noted that Anson touched at Madeira, crossed over to 
South America, then coasted round Cape Horn into the 
Pacific. By this time his fleet had become somewhat 
scattered, but the island of Juan Fernandez had been 
appointed as a rendezvous, where the different vessels 
should meet again. As a matter of fact, before the 
appointed spot was reached, all the ships had come 
together except the Wager, an old and almost worn-out 
Indiaman, the least efficient of the Commodore's fleet, 
commanded by Captain Cheap. The adventures of the 
Wagers company form one of the most striking portions 
of the whole narrative of the expedition, and it is to this 
ship we devote the present chapter. 

Captain Cheap had on board his vessel a considerable 
number of guns and a quantity of war stores generally, 
and he was consequently very anxious to fall in with the 
rest of the fleet, to join in the attack on Valdivia which 
Anson intended to make. But the first of a long, indeed 
an almost unparalleled, succession of misfortunes came 
when the skipper fell down one of the ship's ladders, 
dislocating his shoulder. The Wager was on a lee shore 
at the time, and so crazy was her condition that it was 
impossible to keep her off the rocks. In spite of all 
efforts, the vessel was driven ashore, and struck a sunken 
reef; she shipped a good deal of water, and at length 
grounded some hundred and fifty yards from the land, 
between two little islands. She did not immediately 
break up, but held together long enough to enable a 
good proportion of the provisions and other stores to be 
removed; indeed, there would have been ample time to 
save them all had discipline prevailed. 

Although many of the men were down with scurvy, 
and others almost prostrate with the labours and hard- 

29 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

ships they had undergone, there was yet a large contingent 
that grew riotous and demoralised. It was, in truth, a 
time of dread and horror, the sea breaking furiously over 
the stranded hulk and washing off one poor wretch after 
another. Here and there a man went stark mad. A few 
words may be given from the graphic account furnished 
by one of the survivors, the Honourable Mr. Byron, a 
midshipman. A sailor, he says, was seen " stalking about 
the deck flourishing a cutlass over his head, and calling 
himself king of the country, and striking everybody 
he came near, till his companions, seeing no other security 
against his tyranny, knocked him down." Worse still, 
there were many who "grew very riotous, broke open 
every chest and box that was at hand, stove in the heads 
of casks of brandy and wine as they were borne up the 
hatchway, and got so drunk that some of them were 
drowned on board, and lay floating about the decks for 
days after. 11 Not a few of the sailors in their drunken 
madness set to work to pillage the ship, laying hands on 
everything they could carry. Rarely had a scene of 
such riot and confusion been seen on board a ship of the 
Royal Navy. 

At last Captain Cheap, failing to restore order, left the 
mutineers on board, r.nd with his officers and the well- 
affected of his men went ashore. Next morning he sent 
back the boats, begging the rioters to leave the vessel and 
seek safety on land. He was fearful lest the ship should 
break up with all its living freight, so stormy was the 
weather. w But it seems their madness had not yet left 
them, for the boat not appearing to fetch them off so soon 
as they expected, they at last pointed a four-pounder, 
which was on the quarter-deck, against the hut where they 
knew the captain resided on shore, and fired two shots, 

30 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

which passed just over it." However, after much angry 
discussion, all were got ashore, and the stranded company 
were able to survey the place. "Whichever way we 
looked a scene of horror presented itself : on one side the 
wreck (in which was all we had in the world to support 
and subsist us), together with a boisterous sea ; on the 
other the land did not wear a much more favourable 
appearance — desolate and barren, without sign of culture, 
we could hope to receive little other benefit from it than 
the preservation it afforded us from the sea. We had 
wet, cold, and hunger to struggle with, and no visible 
remedy against any of those evils." The shipwrecked 
took the land on which they stood to be part of the 
mainland of South America ; they learnt later on that it 
was only an island off the west coast, and a hundred leagues 
or so north of the Strait of Magellan. 

The task of getting the provisions and other goods from 
the wreck proved a most dangerous and difficult one in the 
tempestuous weather. It was rendered almost impossible 
by the continued bad conduct of the men, by their want 
of concert, and by their refusal to submit to discipline of 
any sort, with the result that not a little of the cargo was 
lost. 

There now arose another fatal difference between the 
captain and his men. The former was bent on fitting up 
the boats and attempting to make the island of Juan 
Fernandez, the meeting-place appointed by the Commo- 
dore. The crew, on the other hand, were determined to 
sail in the contrary direction, back to Magellan's Strait, 
and then try to reach the coast of Brazil, whence they did 
not doubt they would sooner or later be able to find their 
way back to Europe. Theirs was, in truth, an extra- 
ordinary plan, and one that seemed on the face of it to be 

3i 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

that of madmen. But the men deemed that every mile 
of their route would bring them nearer home, while the 
captain's plan would carry them even farther away from 
it. The quarrel between the men and the officers — for 
the latter as a body sided with Captain Cheap — grew day 
by day more bitter, and the ship's responsible authorities 
thought it prudent to keep a careful watch. In the end 
the commander was compelled to give way, or, at any rate, 
to appear to do so. Secretly he cherished the notion that, 
by the time all was ready for putting out to sea again, he 
would have recovered his lost authority, and so would be 
able to carry out his own plan. The work of lengthening 
the long-boat was proceeded with, but so great was the 
men's distrust of their officer that the breach between 
them was as far as ever from being healed. 

Matters were brought to a crisis by an unfortunate 
incident. One of the midshipmen, a young fellow of the 
name of Cozens, had all along sided with the mutineers, 
if indeed he was not actually their leader. His insolence 
to the captain and others of his superiors grew unbearable, 
and he was the foremost in every act of turbulence and 
violence. Then, as there seemed to be mischief brewing 
of a more serious kind, and as Cozens was clearly looked 
on as the leader in the disturbance projected, the captain 
deemed it high time to resort to more severe measures. 
The scene that followed is described by Mr. Walter, the 
chaplain to the fleet. Cozens had interfered with the 
purser in the execution of his duty and had grossly 
insulted him, "just by the captain's tent, and was himself 
sufficiently violent ; the purser, enraged by his scurrility 
and perhaps piqued by former quarrels, cried out 4 a 
mutiny ! ' adding ' the dog has pistols ! ' and then himself 
fired a pistol at Cozens, which however missed him ; but 

32 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

the captain, on the outcry and the report of the pistol, 
rushed out of his tent ; and, not doubting but that it had 
been fired by Cozens as the commencement of a mutiny, 
he immediately shot him in the head without further 
deliberation, and though he did not kill him on the spot, 
yet the wound proved mortal, and he died about fourteen 
days after. 1 '' 

This prompt though severe action on the part of 
Captain Cheap put an end for the time to any open 
rebellion on the part of the men, but the irritation among 
them was great, and it was not lessened by the discovery 
that the captain was still doing his best to thwart the 
plans for the expedition to the Strait of Magellan and the 
Brazils. A more daring step than any former one was 
now taken by the crew. They charged their commander 
with murder, and put him under arrest, declaring they 
would carry him back to England and there deliver him 
up to justice. The long-boat was prepared as for this 
purpose. 

It was indeed time somebody departed. The stock of 
provisions was running very short, and the terrors of star- 
vation were already looking the mariners in the face. Of 
the one hundred and thirty who had reached the land at 
least thirty had died, but there remained a hundred 
mouths to feed. At last all was ready for departure, the 
mutineers now owning no authority but their own. Into 
the long-boat and the cutter eighty men were crowded, 
the craft loaded almost to sinking point. Then came a 
dramatic surprise. Instead of taking with them the 
captain to be delivered to justice, they pushed off, leaving 
behind nearly the whole of the officers with a few men 
who still stood by their superiors. Astonishment 
struggled with dismay in the breasts of those thus 
c 33 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

deserted, as they stood on the shore watching the fast- 
disappearing boats. The departing crews had sarcas- 
tically given them three cheers as they pushed off. It 
was altogether an extraordinary episode. 

Here, then, was Captain Cheap left with nineteen com- 
panions, officers and men. Fortunately the mutineers had 
left also two small boats, the yawl and the barge. The 
difficulty of keeping body and soul together soon became 
very serious. " A weed called slaugh, fried in the tallow 
of some candles we had saved, with wild celery, was our 
only fare, by which our strength was so much im- 
paired that we could scarcely crawl." But one day a 
portion of the ship's hull became visible above water 
again, and the two boats proceeded thither in search of 
any provisions that might have escaped destruction. To 
the exceeding joy of the starving men some casks of beef 
and other food were found and placed on board the small 
boats to be carried ashore. Then, to their great dismay, 
a rough sea all at once rose upon them, and it was im- 
possible to keep out the waves. The men sat close 
together round the boats to catch the water on their 
backs, and so prevent the swamping of the frail craft ! 
All in vain ; to save their lives the sailors were compelled 
to throw overboard the food which they had secured with 
so much trouble and at such risk, and of which they 
stood in such sore need. Night was at hand, and every 
man gave himself up for lost, deeming it impossible he 
could ever reach the land again in that howling tempest. 
It was only with untold difficulty they managed to run 
their boats into a calmer piece of water, between two 
reefs. 

For four days they were forced to remain on these 
desolate rocks, cold, constantly drenched, and reduced to 

34 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

eat the very leather from their boots. However, some 
two months after the departure of the long-boat, and 
seven after the wreck of the Wager, Captain Cheap and 
his companions were able to embark in the yawl and the 
barge, and set their course northward, to reach Juan 
Fernandez, if it were possible by any effort to do so. 
And now began for them a time of hardship and danger, 
the like of which they had not yet experienced. One 
man was drowned by the foundering of the yawl, and 
the boat was lost altogether. This happened during the 
first week or two of their voyage. The barge was quite 
unequal to the carrying of the whole company, and the 
captain was compelled to pull to land and leave four of 
the men, marines, on the inhospitable shore. It was a 
heartrending scene, as the four poor fellows gave their 
more fortunate brethren a cheer as a send-off; and there 
can be little doubt that they perished miserably. For 
weeks the crew battled with the difficulties that beset 
them. Again and again the attempt was made to round 
the cape called Tres Montes ; as often the boat was 
driven back. All on board grew so weak that at last 
they could struggle no more, and sadly they turned their 
course to go back to their island, which they had 
christened Wager Island, a name it still bears. This 
they succeeded in doing, after unheard-of difficulties, 
privations, and dangers. To go in detail over the story 
of their sufferings at this time would be but to weary the 
reader. It is sufficient to hint that "that dreadful and 
last resource of men in not much worse circumstances 
than ours, of consigning one man to death for the sup- 
port of the rest, began to be mentioned in whispers ! " 

But that "last dreaful resource" was happily not 
needed. A party of Indians arrived in canoes, one of 

35 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

whom was able to speak a little Spanish, a language 
understood also by the surgeon. A bargain was struck 
with the chief to carry the Wager survivors to the 
nearest Spanish settlement, and presently eleven miser- 
able men embarked with the natives, to coast along to 
the island of Chiloe. There was still hardly a morsel of 
food for the sufferers, and they were compelled to land 
now and then, in the hope of picking up something to 
assuage the torments of their stomachs. Captain Cheap 
seems to have behaved rather selfishly, and on one 
occasion, while he and others were on shore, six of the 
party suddenly made off with the boat, leaving the other 
five to their fate. These five men were, besides the 
captain, the lieutenant of marines, the surgeon, and two 
midshipmen, one of them the Mr. Byron to whom we 
owe one of the best accounts of the voyage. 

Byron himself had a remarkable experience about this 
time. He had gone ashore with Captain Cheap to a 
native coast village. The middy was deserted by his 
superior officer and half dead with hunger. Byron would 
soon have succumbed in his neglected and miserable con- 
dition had not some women of the place, seeing his state, 
taken pity on him. They made a fire near the shivering 
fellow and covered him with garments while he slept. 
Moreover, for more than an hour the kindly creatures 
stood in the ice-cold water to catch fish for the dinner 
they prepared for him. Mr. Byron was almost beside 
himself with rage when the husband of the women, an 
old Indian, returned and savagely beat them for showing 
kindness to a stranger. 

It has been said that the captain had exhibited a good 
deal of selfishness on more than one occasion. But is it 
to be marvelled at when we read such a description as 

36 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

this of the sufferings of the party at this time? "I 
could compare Captain Cheap's body to nothing but an 
ant-hill, with thousands of vermin crawling over about 
it ; for he was now past attempting to rid himself in the 
least from this torment, as he had quite lost himself, not 
recollecting our names that were about him, or even his 
own. His beard was as long as a hermit's, that and his 
face being covered with train oil and dirt, from his sleep- 
ing, to secure them from theft, upon pieces of stinking 
seal. His legs were as big as mill-posts, though his body 
appeared to be nothing but skin and bone." Byron him- 
self was often compelled to strip in the bitter frost and 
snow to clear himself of vermin. Mr. Elliot, the surgeon, 
died, leaving but four survivors. 

The remainder of this remarkable story is soon told. 
Another canoe was procured, and after a long and difficult 
voyage the Indians landed the Englishmen on Chiloe, a 
Spanish settlement. Here their troubles were at an end. 
Nothing could exceed the kindness of the inhabitants ; 
every house was open to the sufferers. The quantity of 
food the poor fellows managed to eat at that time was 
enormous. " It is amazing,''' says Byron, " that our eat- 
ing to that excess we did, did not kill us ; we were never 
satisfied, and used to take all opportunities, for months 
after, of filling our pockets when we were not seen, that 
we might get up two or three times in the night to cram 
ourselves." 

This mighty and long-continued gorging did not, how- 
ever, kill them off, and the four survivors were at length 
taken to Valparaiso, and thence to Santiago, where they 
stayed for some time as Spanish prisoners. At last they 
were put on board a French ship and carried to France. 
When, after an absence of five years, they reached 

37 



THE FATE OF THE WAGER 

British shores again, it is not surprising that their 
friends welcomed them as men from the dead. 

It may be mentioned that after a strangely adventurous 
voyage round the southern end of the continent, and 
after in one way or another losing the greater portion of 
their number, a miserable remnant of the mutineers in 
the long-boat did reach the Brazilian coast ; but few of 
them ever saw England again. 



38 



CHAPTER III 
A FAMOUS MUTINY 

Captain Cook and his followers — The Bounty, Lieutenant Bligh, sails 
for the Pacific — A long stay at Otaheite — A mutiny caused through 
commander's harshness — Bligh and eighteen others turned adrift 
in small boat — With difficulty Timor, and then England, reached 
by the castaways— Fletcher Christian chosen captain of the 
Bounty — The mutineers and the Otaheitans — Dissensions among 
the mutineers— Sixteen men remain behind at Otaheite— Bounty 
sails away, and is lost sight of — Pandora frigate sent from England 
in search — Reaches Otaheite— Pandora wrecked on the Great 
Barrier Reef — Inhumanity to the Bounty prisoners — The mutineers 
court-martialled— Discoveries on Pitcairn Island — A remarkable 
story — Description of the island and its inhabitants. 

THE story of Captain Cook's wonderful voyages is, 
happily, still read in England. But the careers 
of some of Cook's officers and men, in many cases 
hardly less striking than his own, have received less 
attention than they deserve. To tell the story of one 
of these is the purpose of the present chapter. 

It was in the year 1787, at which time the actual fate 
of Cook himself was hardly known in England, that the 
ship Bounty sailed from Spithead for the Pacific. The 
officer in charge was Lieutenant Bligh, who had already 
explored the same ocean in the company of the famous 
navigator. The Bounty carried a couple of expert 
gardeners chosen by the great botanist Sir Joseph Banks, 
a main object of the expedition being the carrying from 

39 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

the Pacific islands to the West Indies of the bread-fruit 
and other plants. These vegetables, which grew so well 
and were so useful in the Pacific, might, it was believed, 
thrive equally well in the tropical islands of the Atlantic. 
The crew of the Bounty consisted of forty-four persons, 
including the commander. 

Wretched weather prevailed during the greater part 
of the voyage to Cape Horn, and the course of the ship 
had to be altered in the direction of Van Diemen's Land. 
When at last Otaheite was reached, after a cruise of 
twenty-seven thousand miles in all, the voyage had 
occupied ten months. Bligh made a very long stay in 
the island; in fact, he did not leave it till six months 
later. The natives, who had loved Captain Cook, were 
full of joy when another English ship arrived, and treated 
the men of the Bounty with extraordinary kindness and 
liberality. The sailors were allowed to go on shore and 
to indulge themselves as they pleased, a mistaken policy 
on the part of the lieutenant, as was afterwards seen. At 
length, however, the ship weighed anchor, and began a 
cruise among the other islands of the group. 

And now begins the extraordinary part of the story 
of the Bounty, a story of actual happenings more strange 
than any imaginings from the pen of a writer of fiction. 
Lieutenant Bligh, to say the least of it, was what might 
be called a " brute," that is, he was harsh, obstinate, and 
self-willed, and very uncertain in his temper, if he was 
not disposed to actual cruelty. His men generally had a 
trying time of it with him, and of late for some reason 
he had given way more frequently to fits of temper, and 
many a sailor, whether officer or plain seaman, had felt 
the weight of the lieutenant's wrath. One of these, 
Fletcher Christian, who figures so largely in the sub- 

40 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

sequent doings, afterwards declared that for the last week 
or two he had " been living in hell." All the material 
for an outbreak was at hand. A small matter serves to 
fan a smouldering fire into a blaze, and so it was on this 
occasion. 

Some cocoanuts were missing from the deck, and the 
commander, failing to find them after a search, turned in a 
rage on Christian, who happened to be the officer of the 
watch. Bligh, who had of late been styling the officers 
villains, and had stopped their grog, now beside himself 
with passion, cursed Christian and called him a hound. 
He further declared that as for the men before the mast, 
he would ere long make half of them throw themselves 
into the sea. Christian, a man of respectable family, and 
moreover a man of spirit, could stand his superior's 
tyranny and insolence no longer. He made up his mind 
to quit the vessel, and set about preparing a raft for 
the purpose, a fact known to the crew. Things were 
indeed in an electrical condition on board the vessel, and 
any skipper less blind and headstrong than Bligh would 
have seen that a storm was gathering. 

During the succeeding night, as Christian was labouring 
at his raft, one of the crew set another thought working 
in his mind. 

" Why not seize the ship at once ? " the man whispered. 

The notion, which instantly set Christian's brain on 
fire, was quickly carried through the ship's company, and 
a dramatic scene was witnessed in the grey of the early 
morning. Christian and two or three others suddenly 
made their appearance in the lieutenant's cabin, and 
before Bligh could defend himself — before he was fully 
awake even — he was seized, and his hands were tightly 
tied behind his back, and he was immediately hurried on 

4i 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

deck. While this was going on, others of the mutineers 
had gone quietly but swiftly through the crew and bound 
all who were not inclined to join their party. 

Things marched fast that morning. A boat was got 
ready, some food and clothing, with a few cutlasses, were 
thrown in, and then Bligh was bundled over the side of 
the ship, together with eighteen other men who held with 
him, and the luckless little group of nineteen souls was 
thrust off in that small open craft in the midst of 
the boundless Pacific. There remained on board the 
cruiser five-and-twenty mutineers, including three mid- 
shipmen, who, though they had shown no sympathy 
with the outbreak, were forcibly kept back to navigate 
the ship. " Huzza for Otaheite ! " the fellows yelled, and 
by that the castaways in the boat knew what was in the 
minds of Christian and his adherents. It may be noted 
in passing that, for the most part, the mutineers included 
the very pick of the crew. 

What a prospect for Lieutenant Bligh and his com- 
panions ! The sailors with him begged him at once to 
steer for home. Home ! Why, the nearest bit of land 
where any help could be had was the island of Timor, 
nearly four thousand miles away ! As for England, it 
was more than four times that distance from them. A 
calculation showed that the provisions on board would 
admit, on a voyage to Timor, of an allowance to each 
man of no more than an ounce of bread and half a pint 
of water per day, even under the most favourable con- 
ditions possible. The men, ready to make the best of a 
bad job, consented to this, each binding himself solemnly 
to abide by the agreement. An attempt to land on one 
of the islands and bargain with the natives for bread-fruit 
and water was met by showers of stones, and the boat 

42 




Cast Adrift by Mutineers 

Bligh, with eighteen faithful seamen, was bundled into the boat in the midst ot the 
boundless Pacific. 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

was hastily pushed off, leaving one of its company 
dead. 

The craft was but three-and-twenty feet in length, and 
its complement of eighteen men and their little store 
of provisions and clothing almost weighed it down to the 
water's level. It seemed beyond the bounds of possibility 
that such a shell should traverse a little-known ocean for 
3600 miles in safety, and a novelist who should make 
it accomplish such a feat in his story would inevitably 
lay himself open to the charge of dragging in the 
miraculous. Nevertheless, the castaways did reach Timor, 
though so reduced that they resembled a company of 
skeletons rather than a crew of living men ; in fact, not- 
withstanding the kindly treatment they found among the 
Dutch there, five of the men died. The other thirteen 
were in due time enabled to make their way back to 
England, where the story of the mutiny attracted univer- 
sal attention, and made a great sensation. Lieutenant 
Bligh was raised to the rank of commander. It is probable 
his version of the tale would not have been corroborated 
by the mutineers themselves had they heard it. 

But it is time to follow the fortunes of Fletcher 
Christian and his companions. After ridding themselves 
of their commander and those who sided with him, the 
rebel sailors chose Christian as their leader, and steered 
for the island of Toobouai, intending to settle there, but 
the natives showed anything but a friendly disposition, 
and a course was set for Otaheite again. Here the 
mutineers had to meet the queries of Tinah, the king 
of the island, who very naturally wanted to know what 
had become of Lieutenant Bligh and the rest. To blind 
Tinah the Englishmen concocted a story to the effect that 
the Bounty had luckily fallen in with Captain Cook, a 

43 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

piece of news that set the islanders rejoicing. The 
mutineers further asserted that Cook had kept back Bligh 
and a number of the crew to help him to make the 
settlement he was projecting, on another island not far 
away. Moreover, the famous navigator, they declared, 
had sent on the Bounty to Otaheite to fetch bread-fruit, 
pigs, goats, and so forth. The inhabitants could hardly 
contain themselves when they learnt that Captain Cook, 
their beloved friend and patron, was still living and was 
about to become a near neighbour of theirs. Provisions 
and other supplies were immediately forthcoming in 
plenty, and goats, hogs, cattle, poultry, and what not, 
were literally heaped on the men of the Bounty, 

So far Christian had been marvellously successful, so 
much so, indeed, that he determined to try his luck once 
more on Toobouai. To that island he directed his 
course, his ship's company increased by the addition of 
twenty-four Otaheitans — men, women, and boj^s. The 
Bounty was beached on Toobouai, and preparations were 
made for building a fort. But soon there arose dissen- 
sions among the Englishmen, and Christian was unable to 
keep down the confusion and violence. Moreover, the 
islanders soon regretted the advent of the strangers ; the 
poor savages were ill-treated and made to submit to a 
species of slavery galling in the extreme. When they 
turned again under this atrocious treatment they were 
killed without pity. Toobouai soon became too hot to 
hold the mutineers, and before long Christian carried off 
his ship and crew to Otaheite again. There all who pre- 
ferred to stay were allowed to leave the vessel. They 
numbered sixteen in all, and the remainder, eight men 
besides Christian, weighed anchor once more and sailed 
away. From that time they were lost to the world. It 

44 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

was in September, 1789, that the Bounty left Matavai in 
Otaheite for the last time. 

But in England the sensation caused by Bligh's report 
of the Bounty mutiny had by no means been without 
effect. A frigate, the Pandora, was fitted out for the 
Pacific, under the command of Captain Edwards, and 
reached Matavai Bay in the spring of 1791. Even 
before it came to anchor the vessel, to the surprise of 
Captain Edwards and his crew, was boarded by an 
Englishman. Presently a couple of midshipmen ap- 
peared, and all the men at once admitted that they had 
been of the Bounty company. One after another the 
rest of the Englishmen on the island came on board till 
fourteen had come. Two of the sixteen in Otaheite were 
reported to have run to hide in the mountains, and 
before long the news reached the coast that they had 
been killed by the savages of the interior. 

For three months Edwards and his ship remained here. 
From the fourteen mutineers who gave themselves up he 
learnt the story of the navigations of the Bounty till its 
final departure with Christian and his eight companions. 
Believing that on one or other of the adjacent islands he 
should come across the missing mutineers, if not the ship 
itself, the captain carried out a careful search. It was all 
to no purpose ; no trace of the missing sailors could be 
found, and at length the Pandora was steered for New 
Holland, as the island-continent of Australia was then 
called. 

A sorry chapter in this strange, eventful history has 
now to be told. The Pandora unfortunately struck the 
Barrier Reef, that long stretch of coral formation which 
runs for twelve hundred miles along the east coast of 
Australia. The damage was so serious that the vessel 

45 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

filled almost immediately, and a terrible sight was wit- 
nessed. The crew, in mad confusion, endeavoured to save 
themselves, every man for himself. After a scene of wild 
struggle a few fortunate ones succeeded in gaining the 
shore. But when the roll-call was made, Captain Edwards 
found that no fewer than thirty-four of his ship's com- 
pany had perished. As for the prisoners, their case was 
fearful indeed. All through the voyage they had been 
most inhumanely treated. " They were confined in a 
round-house, built on the after-deck on purpose, which 
could only be entered by a scuttle in the top about 
eighteen inches square. From this narrow prison they 
were never allowed to stir ; and they were, over and 
above, heavily loaded with irons both at the wrists and 
ankles." 

In this pitiful predicament were the fourteen miserable 
Bounty mutineers when the Pandora was wrecked, and, 
shocking to tell, the captain made no effort whatever to 
save them. It is a painful story, yet those who escaped 
all agreed in the account they gave afterwards. How any 
of the poor wretches escaped at all is a marvel, but some- 
how ten of them did so, and reached the shore almost 
without a rag to cover them. Even then their condition 
was scarcely bettered. They had escaped with their bare 
lives : that was all. No pity, no common feelings of 
humanity would seem to have had a place in the breasts 
of the crew of the Pandora. While they themselves were 
comfortably housed in tents made out of the ship's sails, 
the prisoners had no shelter, and to escape the burning 
rays of the sun they were fain to bury themselves up to 
their necks in the scorching sand. The effect was to 
cover their bodies with a mass of frightful scalding 
blisters. 

46 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

The remnant of the crew of the Pandora, with the ten 
prisoners, reached England, by way of Batavia in Java, 
and the mutineers were put upon their trial. Four of 
the men were found not guilty, the remaining six were 
sentenced to death ; only three, however, were hanged. 
Midshipman Heywood was one of those found guilty, 
but there is reason to believe that he had not been a 
willing rebel. Bligh, who of course had been summoned 
as a principal witness, had an animus against the young 
fellow, and it was his evidence that mainly led to the 
condemnation of the middy. It is pleasant to relate that 
Mr. Heywood was pardoned, and lived to become a most 
honourable and distinguished officer. 

Time passed away, and the Bounty mutiny was for- 
gotten, save, perhaps, by the few who had actually figured 
in the doings away in the Pacific. But in 1808, twenty 
years afterwards, the news reached home that some 
Englishmen had been found by an American ship on 
Pitcairn, a lonely island in the Southern Pacific, and a 
place that was supposed to be uninhabited. These 
English-speaking islanders had stated themselves to be 
the descendants of Fletcher Christian and his companions 
of the Bounty. The news seemed incredible, and for a 
time little notice was taken of it ; in fact, half a dozen 
more years rolled by, and the report of the American 
schooner had passed from men's minds. In 1814, how- 
ever, there came intelligence that left no doubt as to the 
correctness of the American skipper's statements respect- 
ing the Pitcairn islanders. 

A couple of British cruisers touched at the place, and 
as they were nearing the shore, the sailors were astounded 
to hear a voice shout across to them, " Won't you heave 
us a rope now ? " On the beach stood a handsome young 

47 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

fellow, a white man, but much tanned by the sun, and 
clad in nothing but a loin-cloth and a hat of straw. The 
islander, a man of four-and-twenty, sprang on board. 

"What is your name ?" he was asked. 

" Thursday October Christian,'' 1 was the somewhat odd 
reply, given, however, in perfect English. And it soon 
appeared that the young fellow was the son of Fletcher 
Christian, the mutineer of the Bounty, and an Otaheitan 
woman ; that he was the first born on the island ; and 
that he had received his singular names from the fact that 
he had been born on a Thursday in October. He was a 
finely-built black-haired man, standing fully six feet. 

Here was a statement to stagger the captains of the two 
British frigates, and it was with some difficulty they could 
bring themselves to credit the story. But presently they 
found themselves speaking to another of the islanders, an 
aged man, who gave the name of Alexander Smith at first, 
but who then declared himself to be John Adams of the 
Bounty, and the sole survivor of Fletcher Christian's 
band. Adams's testimony soon convinced the visitors 
that they had happened upon a remarkable discovery, and 
that the story told by the Pitcairn men, however it might 
seem to border on the miraculous, was nevertheless strictly 
true. 

The colony on Pitcairn was found to consist of forty- 
six persons, and it seemed to be a singularly happy and 
prosperous community, as well as a singularly well-con- 
ducted one. Adams was able to set before the officers 
quite a luxurious dinner, when they landed to investigate 
and explore. It was odd to see the eager curiosity of the 
children and their surprise at some of the commonest 
things. They were particularly puzzled by a cow they saw 
on board one of the frigates. Some took it to be a pig 

48 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

with horns, others a monster goat. From Adams the 
sailors learnt the story of the Bounty's voyage under 
Christian's command. The tale is neither uninteresting 
nor devoid of exciting features. 

Some of the handful of mutineers who had gone off in 
the Bounty had been desirous of trying the Marquesas 
Islands, but Fletcher Christian, who was better informed, 
settled on Pitcairn as their destination, and accordingly 
made for that island. To the joy of the little band they 
found Pitcairn everything they could wish. The soil 
seemed good and fertile, with excellent water and plenty 
of wood. Its area, some four miles square, was ample for 
their purpose. In the interior were mountains with 
passes that could easily be defended by a few against 
many, should enemies come and attack. In short, the 
Bounty was cleared of everything and then burnt. The 
land was fairly divided amongst the white settlers, and 
their new life began. For a couple of years the English- 
men were happy and prosperous enough. 

Not so the unfortunate Otaheitans who had accom- 
panied them ; they, poor creatures, were in pitiable case. 
Virtually slaves, they were badly treated and heavily worked 
by their masters. At length the worm turned, and the 
down-trodden wretches made a plot to kill the oppressors. 
This, luckily, was divulged to the Englishmen by the 
Otaheitan wives some of them had married. Enraged, 
the settlers put to death two of the plotters. This 
brought reprisals, and suddenly the Otaheitans rose in a 
body and killed no fewer than five of the Englishmen, 
Christian, the leader, being one of them. Two more of 
the whites fled to the hills, where one of them, a Scotch- 
man, managed to extract a fiery spirit from a native root. 
The two men, both fellows of indifferent character, 
D 49 



A FAMOUS MUTINY 

became mad drunk, and in his frenzy one of them sprang 
over the cliff and was killed. The other tried again and 
again to murder Adams and Young, the only whites 
besides himself left, and they were forced to kill him in 
self-protection, striking him down with a hatchet. 

The surviving couple from this time began to mend 
their ways, and from reckless and ill-behaved, became 
sober and devoutly religious men. Years passed, the 
little colony prospering greatly. Sons and daughters 
were born to the islanders, and two or three more whites 
coming by chance to the spot settled there, one of them 
a man who made an excellent schoolmaster. In 1814, as 
we have seen, the population numbered forty-six persons, 
Adams being the only one of the original settlers left. 
The children were well taught and most piously brought 
up. They spoke English correctly and grammatically. 
The religion of the islanders seemed to be as genuine and 
heartfelt as it was simple, and in daily and hourly evi- 
dence. Vice and evil-living were all but unknown on 
Pitcairn, and altogether the islanders were a pattern to 
the world. By the middle of the last century the popula- 
tion had increased to nearly two hundred souls. A few 
words from a writer on the subject may be given in con- 
clusion. 

" All that remains to be said of this excellent people is, 
that they appear to live together in perfect harmony and 
contentment ; to be virtuous, religious, cheerful, an< 
hospitable beyond the limits of prudence ; to be patterns 
of conjugal and parental affection, and to have very few 
vices." 



50 



CHAPTER IV 
ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

The " Open Polar Sea" — Dr. Hayes — In Smith's Sound — Blown out 
again — In an ice lane — Hemmed in — A terrible crush— Lifted by 
the ice — A time of suspense — The ship rights itself — A walrus 
hunt — Rifles and harpoon at work — Desperate attack on the 
sportsmen— A lively quarter of an hour — A splendid specimen — 
Explorer travels 450 miles over ice in sledge — The "northernmost 
bit of land on the globe "—The « Open Polar Sea." 

TO the more adventurous of the human race there 
would seem to be something marvellously fascinat- 
ing in the exploration of the frozen latitudes and 
in what may be called the race for the Poles. In every 
age since the dawn of history there have been men who 
have been ready to risk their lives and fortunes in the 
attempt to make fresh discoveries in very high latitudes 
and to carry the flag of their nation to a point nearer — be 
it never so little nearer — to the geographical poles of our 
earth. To give even the merest summary of what has 
been done in that way in ancient, and still more in 
modern times would need the compass of a volume ; a 
are list of the names of those who have been dis- 
tinguished in Arctic or Antarctic discovery and adven- 
ture would require pages. 

In our own days men of science generally have come to 
Delieve that around the North Pole lies a great sea, which 
s probably not frozen, but open water — the " Open Polar 
sea,' 1 as it has been styled. To carry a ship into that 

5i 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

open sea or, if that is found to be impossible, to reach its 
shores across the intervening leagues of ice has long been 
an object of keen ambition among explorers. One who 
ardently desired to do this thing was Dr. Hayes, an 
American medical man, away back in the fifties and 
sixties. His ambition had been fired during his service as 
ship's surgeon under Dr. Kane, of the United States 
Navy. 

It was years before Dr. Hayes was able to carry out the 
work on which he had so much set his heart. Difficulties 
innumerable cropped up, chiefly in the way of finding the 
money necessary for such an expedition. At last, however, 
they were surmounted, and in July, 1860, the explorer 
found himself in command of a modest schooner, the 
United States, and a company of fourteen men of all 
ranks, to be added to when Greenland was reached. His 
destination was Smith's Sound, a continuation northward 
of Baffin's Bay. He had already with Dr. Kane, in 1855, 
traversed the eastern side of this channel, but he was of 
opinion that the western side offered better prospects of 
success — that is, of reaching the open Polar waters beyond. 
Thither, therefore, Dr. Hayes directed his course. 

We may in fancy join the expedition at the entrance 
into Smith's Sound, a point that was not reached without 
bad weather in plenty. Fortunately the damage the ship 
had sustained was not such as to unfit her for further pro- 
gress northwards. But now the difficulties and dangers 
began to thicken round the explorers. A gale arose, and 
straightway blew the vessel out of the Sound again, and it 
was only with enormous efforts on the part of the crew 
that she could be brought once more into the channel. 
Several lanes or passages now appeared in the ice, and 
after careful consideration the commander selected one of 

52 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

them, and the vessel was steered into it. At a good 
distance beyond, open water could be seen, and to reach 
that was all the doctor's endeavour. 

For ten miles the United States progressed in safety. 
But by this time the current was found to be strongly 
against her ; the ice on either side was coming nearer, and 
the passage was fast closing up. All possible sail was 
clapped on ; but to no purpose : the vessel was compelled 
to turn. All at once a grave disaster threatened. A 
great ice-field was seen at hand, and a collision was inevit- 
able. Says the commander : " To me the prospect was 
doubly disagreeable. For the greater facility of observa- 
tion I had taken my station on the foretop-yard ; and the 
mast being already sprung and swinging with my weight, 
I had little other expectation than that, when the shock 
came, it would snap off and land me with the wreck on 
the ice ahead." Fortunately the mast held, though the 
cut-water was split and the iron sheathing of the vessel 
torn off " like brown paper. " 

A tedious yet exciting time followed, and for more than 
an hour the crew battled hard to escape from so danger- 
ous a predicament. It was all useless effort ; for by that 
time the ice had closed in round the ship. The exhibition 
of force which nature shows at times in the Arctic seas is 
exceeded, Dr. Hayes declares, only by the earthquake and 
the volcano. And such a display of power was seen now. 
Whenever two floes met in collision there would be forced 
up into the air, higher than the masthead, a mighty ridge 
of ice. This ridge the next moment would fall with 
a crash, to be submerged deep in the waters. Woe betide 
the vessel which should find itself in the midst of such a 
conflict ! The United States, fortunately, happened to be 
for a time riding in a sort of triangular dock, so to speak, 

53 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

formed by the ice-floes. But bit by bit the blocks were 
grinding each other to pieces ; bit by bit the ice was 
filling up the little basin. For the explorers the situation 
was nothing less than terrifying. Nothing they could do 
could avert the catastrophe, and they could only watch 
with straining eyes the forces of destruction advancing 
inch by inch upon them. 

The fatal moment came. The ice ground against the 
keel, and the vessel trembled and groaned like a huge 
animal in pain. The result was not long delayed. " Her 
sides seemed to be giving way," says Dr. Hayes, " her deck 
timbers were bowed up, and the seams of the deck planks 
were opened. I gave up for lost the little craft which had 
gallantly carried us through so many scenes of peril ; but 
her sides were solid and her ribs strong ; and the ice on 
the port side, working gradually under the bilge, at length, 
with a jerk that sent us all reeling, lifted her out of the 
water ; and the floes still pressing on and breaking, as 
they were crowded together, a vast ridge was piling up 
beneath and around us ; and, as if with the elevating 
power of a thousand jack-screws, we found ourselves going 
slowly up into the air. 11 

An anxious time truly ! And in this dangerous plight 
did the ship remain for eight long hours. The crew were 
all the while torn by the thought that in all probability 
one of two catastrophes would come for them, both 
dreadful. Either the vessel would heel over completely 
on the ice, in which case her near destruction was all but 
certain ; or the piles of ice, which grew ever loftier, might 
topple over and crush vessel and crew alike beneath their 
gigantic weight. 

With what thankfulness and joy the sailors saw signs of 
release coming may be imagined. A few open bits of 

54 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

water showed here and there ; the ice was pressing upon 
the ship with less force ; soon the blocks that held up the 
vessel might be expected to part and set her free. But 
how ? That became a very grave question. The actual 
progress of events was curious, and for the moment not 
less alarming. The ice opened first towards the fore-part 
of the craft, and at once the bows dropped down into the 
water, the after portion of the ship sticking up into the 
air, of course, and pointing skywards. But the suspense 
was not of long duration. A few moments later the ice 
came together again, and it seemed as if the ship was 
about to be lifted out of the water as before. Suddenly 
one of the floes began to swing round, and in an instant 
the schooner had dropped with a tremendous splash into 
the sea, " reeling forward and backward and from side to 
side, as the ice, seeking its own equilibrium, settled head- 
long and in wild confusion beneath us from its forced 
elevation." 

The explorers breathed more freely, yet for hours they 
were in a state of uncertainty and dread. The hold was 
rapidly filling with water, and the pumps had to be im- 
mediately manned. Presently, to the relief of those on 
board, it was found that the United States had received 
less damage than had been expected. By pumping about 
a quarter of the time, the men were able to keep the 
vessel sufficiently free from water to admit of safe naviga- 
tion till repairs could be effected. 

Of dangers many and various — storms, ice-pressure, 
frost-bites, snow-blindness, and the like — Dr. Hayes and 
his little company experienced plenty and to spare, and 
we may pass them by. But a remarkable walrus hunt 
deserves to be described. It was in the beginning of the 
summer of 1861, and in the neighbourhood of Port 

55 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

Foulke, in Greenland. The doctor had not hitherto 
been wont to consider the walrus in the light of a 
dangerous animal, but the experiences of that day caused 
him quickly and for ever to change his opinion. 

It was a grand sunny morning of the Arctic mid- 
summer time, and the explorer-in-chief had ascended a 
hill near the shore to select a spot whereon to build a 
cairn. Before long he heard a noise of many bellowings, 
and looking down upon the bay, he saw an extraordinary 
sight. The ice was drifting about in patches, and both 
water and floating blocks were covered thick with black 
objects which he knew to be walruses. The beasts were 
there in thousands, and Dr. Hayes declares that their 
numbers were beyond conjecture, for they reached quite 
out of his ken. Here was an opportunity for sport 
indeed ! 

Hayes flew down to the shore and called up his men, 
who quickly drew the boat over the ice to the water and 
sprang aboard. The party carried a harpoon, two or 
three guns, and a line. Then away they scudded at a 
spanking rate over the couple of miles of sea that 
separated them from the shoal of walruses. The first of 
the beasts they met with — some two dozen of them — 
were on a piece of floating ice, and disporting themselves 
to their content. Here the sportsmen resolved to com- 
mence operations. The brutes were wholly unconscious 
of danger, and after a first glance towards the advancing 
boat — they had never seen one before, that was pretty 
certain — they took no further notice, but went on with 
their play. Nevertheless, the men had muffled their oars, 
and came up as noiselessly as possible. 

By this time the sportsmen were able to take stock of 
their game, so to speak, and an ugly lot they found the 

56 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

beasts to be. How formidable the walrus might become 
they realised at once, and the doctor says he and all felt 
like soldiers charging the enemy for the first time in 
their lives. The bulls especially were formidable fellows, 
measuring not less than sixteen feet in length and almost 
as much round the unwieldy body. The hanging tusks 
were huge, and all about their noses and nostrils stood 
out strong bristles not unlike the quills of a porcupine. 
The aspect of the face was ugly and forbidding in the 
extreme. As for their hides, they seemed to be made of 
impenetrable leather, an integument to turn any bullet. 
The frontal bones were far too thick and strong to be 
pierced by a ball, enough at least to admit of the bullet 
travelling on further to a vital part ; thus, unless through 
the eye, the animal could not be killed by a shot in the 
head. Two old bulls were amusing themselves by prodding 
each other with their tusks, and treated the new-comers 
with profound indifference. One of the brutes presently 
went off to sleep in the very presence of the enemy. Never 
had the men seen a greater exhibition of coolness, and in 
their inmost breasts they were beginning to feel what is 
known as "funky." However, none of them cared to 
show the white feather, and at it they went. 

And now the attackers were close to the ice-floe with 
its score of walruses, a veritable mixture of bulls, cows, 
calves, and half-grown animals. The guns were levelled 
and the harpooner stood ready. The only safe plans 
were, either to shoot the beasts on the ice, or to harpoon 
them surely if they took to the water. It was well known 
that the brutes would dive to the bottom in the latter 
case, that is, at first. But they would soon have to come 
to the surface again to breathe, and then, with good 
luck, they might be secured. Three balls were sent flying 

57 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

into the group simultaneously. One struck a bull in the 
neck ; another killed a young one, but the body unfortu- 
nately rolled off the floe and was lost ; while Dr. Hayes 
himself wounded the head of a second bull, which gave 
vent to a bellow that far surpassed any ever given by his 
namesake of Bashan. This last brute instantly flung 
himself off' the ice, narrowly missing the boat in his fall, 
and sending the water splashing in all directions over the 
men. The harpooner had just time, as the walrus tumbled 
off his floe, to drive well home his weapon. 

Exciting moments followed. The animals, now alarmed, 
dropped one and all into the water and sank to the 
bottom like stones. The harpoon rope ran out at an 
astonishing rate over the gunwale, but in its passage it 
became entangled in some pieces of ice. It was not that 
the whole length of line had run out, but a coil of it had 
caught. It would have been all over with the craft, but 
quick as thought one of the sailors sprang out and cleared 
the line. Soon the rope began to hang loose, and the 
slack was pulled in ; the animal was coming up to blow. 

It was at a distance of fifty yards from the boat that 
the herd reappeared, the harpooned bull among them. 
What would happen next ? The sportsmen were not left 
long in doubt. With a mighty chorus of bellowings and 
shrieks that stunned the ear and made the whole bay 
resound, the brutes dashed up to the boat, which in an 
instant was surrounded by an enormous throng. "The 
cry was taken up and passed along from floe to floe, like 
the bugle-blast passed from squadron to squadron along 
a line of battle ; and down from every piece of ice plunged 
the startled beasts, as quickly as the sailor drops from 
his hammock when the long-roll beats to quarters. With 
their ugly heads just above the water, and with mouths 

58 




Attacked by Walruses 



An immense animal made its way to the boat, and tried to get its tusks over the 
side, but happily I was able to load in time. I raised my piece and fired into its 
mouth, and he went down like a stone. 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

wide open, belching forth the dismal ' huk ! huk ! huk ! ' 
they came tearing toward the boat/'' That the animals 
meant fight was soon evident, and the boat and its 
occupants "became the focus of at least a thousand 
gaping, bellowing mouths." The explorers had got them- 
selves into a fix. The beasts at once made desperate 
efforts to get their tusks over the side of the boat ; had a 
single one of them succeeded, there would have been 
disaster of a serious kind, and every man of them all 
would have been struggling for his life in the chilly 
waters among the maddened monsters. It would not do 
to be idle, and a lively quarter of an hour followed. 
While the men with the rifles fired and reloaded as fast 
as they could, the sailors struck right and left with their 
oars, and one of them used a lance with great effect. 
Time after time the danger became pressing, time after 
time the end seemed to be at hand, but the quickness of 
the crew saved the situation. Two or three really terrify- 
ing incidents came. One of them is thus graphically told 
by the commander himself. " Again, an immense animal, 
the largest that I had ever seen and with tusks apparently 
three feet long, was observed to be making his way 
through the herd with his mouth wide open, bellowing 
dreadfully. I was now as before, busy loading ; Knorr 
and Jensen had just discharged their pieces, and the men 
were well engaged with their oars. It was a critical 
moment, but, happily, I was in time. The monster, his 
head high above the boat, was within two feet of the 
gunwale, when I raised my piece and fired into his mouth. 
The discharge killed him instantly, and he went down like 
a stone.'" 

This was too much for the rest of the herd. With one 
accord the brutes dived with an immense splash and made 

59 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

off, not rising again till they were at a safe distance. For 
a moment the sportsmen looked for a return, but nothing 
of the kind came ; every head was turned away from 
them and towards the open sea. The flight was in 
earnest, to the satisfaction of the men, no doubt. They 
had not done badly. They had come out of the fray 
with whole skins ; that was much under the circumstances. 
They had managed to secure two out of the dozen or so 
of walruses which had been slain. One of these was the 
fine bull that had been harpooned. The beast had tried 
his best to follow his retreating brethren, but, becoming 
weaker, he was approached and dispatched. Dr. Hayes 
thus obtained a splendid specimen for his Natural History 
collection. 

It will be asked, Did the explorer reach the "Open 
Polar Sea " he had so ardently longed to behold ? Yes 
and no. The story of what he did actually accomplish 
may be told in a few lines. Leaving his ship in charge 
of some of his men, he started off, with two or three com- 
panions, on a long and adventurous sledge journey across 
the frozen seas, the only manner in which he could win 
farther north. After many hardships and sufferings he 
succeeded in gaining a point which he estimated to be 
81° 35" N., on the coast of Grinnell Land, on the other 
side of the Kennedy Channel, which separates that shore 
from Greenland. Here he was effectually stopped ; it 
was in the spring of 1861. 

The instinct of his dogs told them that the ice was 
becoming thin and dangerous, and they refused to face it. 
In vain Hayes and Knorr, the only two men who had got 
so far, tried to find stronger ice ; the dogs would have 
none of it. For miles the doctor walked along the shores 
of the great bay off which they were ; nowhere did a 

6o 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

possible stretch of ice present itself. At last, in his 
despair, the chief climbed a hill on the coast. He soon 
perceived, to his keen disappointment, that he had come 
to the end of his northward course. A great ice crack 
started in the bay and stretched across the sea, joining 
other cracks, and ever widening, till at last it seemed to 
be lost in the waving sea beyond, in the dim distance, and 
under a great cloud bank that covered the whole sky from 
east to west — the " Open Polar Sea ! " 

A wonderful sight it was that met his eyes from the 
hill-top. The coast stretched away northwards, a series 
of deep bays and striking headlands. His eye roamed 
over these till it rested fascinated on the farthest of the 
bold and lofty promontories. Beyond that no land could 
be seen. Was not that rugged and precipitous ness the 
northernmost bit of land on our globe ? And was not that 
dark stretch of waters the Polar Sea men had so desired 
to gaze upon ? Hayes had no doubt of it. The head- 
land he took to be in about latitude 82° 30", or four hun- 
dred and fifty miles from the North Pole, a distance not 
greater than that which separated him from his ship. No 
wonder the explorer gazed on the spectacle with a full 
heart. He was not to navigate that hitherto unseen 
ocean, but he had been privileged to see that which even 
the great Parry himself had never seen. 

" It possessed a fascination for me," he writes, " and it 
was with no ordinary sensations that I contemplated my 
situation, with one solitary companion, in that hitherto 
untrodden desert ; while my nearness to the earth's axis, 
the consciousness of standing upon land far beyond the 
limits of previous observation, the reflections which 
crossed my mind respecting the vast ocean which lay 
spread out before me, the thought that these ice-girdled 

61 



ON THE EDGE OF THE POLAR SEA 

waters might lash the shores of distant islands where 
dwell human beings of an unknown race, were all circum- 
stances calculated to invest the very air with mystery, to 
deepen the curiosity, and to strengthen the resolution to 
persevere in my determination to sail upon this sea and to 
explore its furthest limits." 

It is no discredit to a gallant explorer of forty-seven 
years ago that his "farthest north" has since been 
altogether beaten by more recent travellers, notably by 
Dr. Nansen and the Duke of Abruzzi. 



62 



CHAPTER V 
DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

Lord Dundonald — "Worthy to stand with Blake" — His naval ex- 
ploits — In command of the Speedy — A torment to the Spaniard- 
Attacked by the Gamo — Boarding with blackened faces — Capture 
of the Gamo — Cochrane's wonderful career with the Speedy — Also 
with the Pallas — Fireship operations against French— Subordinate 
to Lord Gambier — The French boom and its defences— Fireships 
and explosion vessels — The first of the explosion ships fired by 
Cochrane himself — Terrific result — Mediator sails through broken 
boom — Its captain blown out of his ship — Thirteen French 
vessels stranded — More destruction by the English — Gambier 
refuses help— Gambier court-martialled, but acquitted — Cochrane 
dismissed — Offers his sword to the foreigner. 

THERE are some who are unfortunate enough never 
to receive the meed of praise due to their real 
greatness ; who fail to achieve that place on the 
roll of fame to which their surpassing merits entitle 
them. And this is true of all ranks of life in which 
fame and name are to be won — among poets, artists, 
statesmen, soldiers, sailors, scholars, divines, men of 
medicine or law. A signal example of a man whom the 
world has not rated according to his deserts is to be 
found in the Earl of Dundonald, better known by his 
earlier title of Lord Cochrane, whose exploits and 
achievements as a seaman have rarely been equalled, 
and perhaps never exceeded, for dash and brilliancy, in all 
our naval history. It has been said with truth that he 
deserves " to stand by the side of Blake. 11 

63 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

Lord Cochrane, to keep to the name under which he 
did all his wonderful work, was so to speak a seaman 
from his birth, for we find him at the age of ten or eleven 
already a middy with his uncle, Admiral Sir Alexander 
Cochrane, having his tutor with him on board, however, 
that he might go on with his general education while 
learning to be a sailor. His serious work as a naval 
officer may be said to have begun some years later than 
that, say in 1794, at which time he would be eighteen or 
nineteen years of age. From this date the young noble- 
man's fine feats of seamanship and his astounding deeds 
of daring follow each other so closely and in such numbers 
that the brain is almost in a whirl with the mere reading 
of them. A couple of his exploits may be given as a 
sample of the whole. 

In the year 1801, by which time the young officer had 
become Captain Lord Cochrane, in command of the 
Speedy, a fourteen-gun brig, he performed a remarkable 
feat. His little vessel had for some time been a terrible 
torment to the French and the Spaniards, and the latter 
were determined to rid themselves of what they con- 
sidered to be a tiresome little pest. A large vessel, 
carrying thirty-two guns, was accordingly sent against 
the little Speedy. The Gamo, as the Spanish warship 
was named, in the matter of size, armament, and crew 
was almost absurdly the superior of the English brig. 
She carried a company of no fewer than 319 men, as 
against the Speedifs fifty-four, and she had available for 
broadside firing sixteen guns of large size, as compared 
with seven much smaller on the part of her little 
adversary. A number of small gunboats were first sent 
out against Cochrane to lure him to a position near the 
shore. These the Speedy quickly chased back into 



DUNDONALD AND HIS F1RESHIPS 

harbour. But when her captain turned his ship's head 
to go back, he found himself stopped by the big Gamo. 
It seemed as if he had caught a Tartar. 

After some preliminary skirmishings Cochrane dashed 
close alongside the Spaniard, knowing that from her height 
above water her big guns would send their shot harmlessly 
over the bulwarks of the diminutive Speedy. At once he 
prepared to board, calling up for the work every available 
man, and arranging them in two divisions. The Gamo 
captain, seeing what game was afoot, drew away a few 
yards, with the view of getting his guns to play on the 
Britisher. Had Cochrane stood the Spaniard's pounding, 
it is certain that there would have been a quick end to his 
command. But he dashed once more alongside and gave 
the order to board. This boarding had its ludicrous side. 
The division of men at the bow went with blackened 
faces, and with injunctions to make themselves look as 
hideous as possible, in order to scare the enemy. At the 
same instant Cochrane himself with the other boarding 
section sprang aboard the Spaniard aft. 

The enemy, thus between two fires, " were driven into a 
confused mass in the waist. Here a desperate hand-to- 
land struggle ensued, which would probably have con- 
tinued much longer had not one of the Speedy* s men, by 
direction of Lord Cochrane, fought his way to the ensign 
staff, and hauled down the Spanish colours. The effect of 
this was the surrender of the Spaniards, they believing 
that the colours had been hauled down by their command- 
ing officer's directions. 11 

It seemed marvellous ! Here was a handful of men under 
iie command of a youthful but fearless skipper the 
possessors of a great Spanish ship manned by hundreds of 
ailors ! What to do with the prisoners even was a puzzle, 

E 65 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

but Cochrane soon found a way out of the difficulty. 
Driving all the Spaniards below, he placed men with guns 
at the hatchways, under the charge of his brother, a young 
volunteer, till they could be dealt with. In this extra- 
ordinary engagement the British ship lost but one man. 
Before Cochrane had done with the Speedy, a matter of ten 
months only, he had captured no fewer than thirty-three 
ships, with a total of 530 men and 128 guns. And, it is 
worth while mentioning, at a later date, when in command 
of the Pallas, he destroyed fifteen of the enemy's ships in 
the space of a couple of months. 

But Lord Cochrane's most brilliant piece of service for 
his own country was also his last as a British commander, 
and it may be doubted whether in the whole of our naval 
story a more splendid feat can be found recorded. 
Cochrane was by this time, in the year 1809, an admiral. 
He was sent specially to take charge of the fireship 
operations projected against the French fleet in the Basque 
Roads, in the Bay of Biscay. He was not to be in chief 
command, indeed Lord Cochrane never reached that 
position while in the service of his own country. He was 
to act under the orders of Admiral Lord Gambier, and the 
work designed for him was such as required a daring anc 
a coolness of no ordinary kind, and Cochrane was un- 
hesitatingly selected for it. From the first Gambier was 
unfriendly, and there seems to be little doubt that the 
Admiral commanding was, to say the least of it, hardly 
disposed to support strongly and fully his brilliant sub- 
ordinate's efforts. Lord Gambier described the propose( 
operations as " a horrible mode of warfare," though he was 
forced to admit it was necessary. For this squadron in the 
Basque Roads was the very force on which the French 
relied for their attacks on our West Indian Islands ; t( 

66 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

save our possessions, therefore, it was absolutely imperative 
that a crushing blow should without delay be struck at 
this home fleet. 

The French force consisted of ten line-of-battle ships, 
three frigates, and an armed troopship. It was drawn up 
in the waters lying behind the island of Aix and the 
Boyart shoal to the south-west of it. Both island and 
shoal were fortified, Aix especially, which had strong 
batteries, and a force probably not far short of two 
thousand men. In the channel between islet and shoal 
the French had constructed a novel but very strong piece 
of defence work, a boom half a mile long, " composed of 
spars, and cables of the largest dimensions, secured by five- 
ton anchors." Behind this lay the French ships drawn 
up in double line. The passage between the ends of the 
boom and the land was in each case narrow and danger- 
ous, on the one hand being the guns of Aix and on the 
other the shallows. It can be seen, therefore, that to get 
at the French fleet so snugly hidden in the bay behind, 
it was necessary first to destroy the formidable obstruc- 
tion. To do this, and then to grapple with the ships, 
was now the task assigned to Cochrane, and an operation 
more beset with difficulties and dangers can hardly be 
conceived. Even the inner waters where the enemy lay 
were full of shoals and unsafe bits of water. The business 
Lord Cochrane had undertaken to carry through was 
truly a desperate one. 

He saw at once that fireships alone would not suffice 
for the work, and accordingly he prepared a couple of 
explosion vessels also. The larger of these was a mon- 
strous affair, "containing 1500 barrels of powder, in 
uncheons placed on end, and secured by stout hawsers, 
nd formed into a solid mass by wedges and wet sand 

67 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

rammed hard between the casks. On the top of this 
mass of gunpowder nearly 400 live shells, with short 
fuses, and some hundreds of hand grenades and rockets 
were deposited." Of fireships there were twelve got 
ready, but it is not certain that use was made of them 
all. 

Meanwhile, the French Admiral, Allemand, behind his 
boom, was making great preparations to receive the 
attack he knew was coming. He had a crowd of no 
fewer than seventy-three ship's boats of one kind or 
another, and every night they were drawn up in five 
divisions near the ends of the boom. The crews of these 
were prepared both to protect the boom itself and to 
keep the narrow channels between the obstruction and 
the land. Their orders were to tackle any fireship that 
might appear ; to destroy it, if possible ; to board it, if 
necessary and practicable, at whatever risk. 

The night of April 11th was that fixed by Cochrane 
for the attack. The British ships engaged in the busi- 
ness were the Imperieuse, which anchored in deep water 
off the shoal, the AigU; the Unicom, the Pallas, the 
Etna, the Emerald, and four gun - brigs. There were 
besides two " pointer " ships, craft placed one on either 
side of the course marked out for the fireships to take. 
These last two ships had their lights visible to the attack- 
ing fleet but screened from the enemy. Admiral Lord 
Gambier lay three or four miles back with the main body 
of his fleet. 

And now the hour of action has come. It is half-past 
eight in the evening, and dark. The fire and explosion 
ships are ready. On the larger of these latter is Admiral 
Cochrane, accompanied by only Lieutenant Bissell and 
four plucky seamen volunteers. Hardly any more perilous 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

situation than that of these six British sailors can be im- 
agined. They are standing on a magazine of almost 
inconceivable destructive power, which an accident may 
at any moment explode ; while it is more than probable 
that a shot from the enemy may fire the ship before the 
brave fellows have finished their work and got themselves 
away to a safe distance. But Cochrane is not the man to 
flinch for an instant, however appalling the danger. 

Steadily the explosion ship advanced upon the boom, 
followed by the Mediator and others of the fire-vessels. 
Reaching a point as near the boom as was safe, the 
Admiral ordered his five companions into the small boat 
accompanying, and himself remained to light the fuses. 
With astounding coolness he performed his task, well 
knowing that a single one of the grenades exploding 
before its time would blow him to atoms. Then Cochrane 
dropped over the side of the fatal vessel into the boat, his 
work well done, and with the expectation that the matches 
would burn for a quarter of an hour. Instantly the men 
pushed off and dashed away in search of safety. 

Not more than five minutes had passed, however, when 
there came a thunder that rent the air, and in a moment 
the grenades and rockets were flying in every direction, 
while the sea was heaved up into an immense wave that, 
travelling on, threatened to swamp every craft within 
reach. Cochrane and his men had gone but a short 
distance when the explosion came, and they were exposed 
to the deadly missiles darting about them in such numbers. 
How any single man of them all escaped death is in- 
explicable ; their escape, in truth, was in a manner mira- 
culous. Yet they remained unhurt amid a display that 
was truly frightful in its destructive force, and appalling to 
witness. 

69 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

The bolt had been launched, but had it reached the 
mark against which it had been hurled ? Had the explo- 
sion shattered the boom ? That was now the all-important 
question, and in the darkness of the night the point could 
be settled only by actual observation and trial. The man 
for this was ready to hand. Commander James Woold- 
ridge, the captain of the Mediator fireship, at once made 
for the spot, hurling his vessel with all possible impetus 
against the boom. The Mediator crashed through what- 
ever trifle of obstacle there had been left after the ex- 
plosion. That Wooldridge's vessel was not heavy enough 
to crush so formidable a work without other aid is 
certain, yet there were some who were of opinion that the 
explosion had occurred too far away from the boom to do 
any damage to it. It was asserted, in fact, that the 
explosion ship was a full mile away when the catastrophe 
came, a statement which seems on the face of it absurd. 
And the question is settled by the records, stil 1 extant, 
of the Indierme, the nearest French ship to the boom : 
these state the distance to have been not more than about 
a hundred yards. 

Wooldridge was a splendid fellow. He was the first to 
get through, though he was followed closely by several of 
the others. His ship was presently on fire, but he did not 
budge. The inevitable was not long in coming, and the 
gallant captain and three or four of his officers and men 
were blown out of their vessel. The Frenchmen within 
were at once in deadly peril. One of them, the Ocean, 
was sorely beset, and to escape the fearful fireship she 
cut her cable. Almost at once she swung round, fouling 
two other vessels, the Tonnerre and the Patriote. Then 
the Ocean drifted helplessly upon the Palles shoal, just 
missing another fireship in her course thither ; in fact, 

70 




Ax Attack by Fire-ships 

The sky was illuminated by the red glare of the fire-ships, and the burning masses and 
the repeated explosions made a scene that was truly awful. 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

the captain of the French vessel had to shoot away the 
mainmast of the attacking fireship, in order to get away 
in safety. It is said that the Ocean lost as many as fifty 
men before she could get clear from even the first of the 
fireships. 

What followed can be but faintly pictured : the flaring 
fireships careering madly among the enemy — the roar 
of cannon and the crash of shot and shell — the cries of 
the terrified French — the helpless grounding of their 
ships upon the shoals at hand — the spectacle, indeed, defies 
description. A few words from Mr. Allen's Life of Admiral 
Cochrane, however, may be cited : " The crews of the 
French ships became panic-stricken, and all hands did 
their best to quit so dangerous a roadstead. The dark- 
ness of the night rendered the effect of the burning 
masses and repeated explosions still more awful. The 
sky was illuminated by the red glare of the fireships, and, 
added to the flashes of the guns from the forts and the 
incessant flight of shells and rockets, the scene was awfully 
sublime." 

Next morning brought to the eyes of the British sailors 
a sight that must have astonished as well as gratified 
them. No fewer than nine of the French ships of the 
line and four of the frigates lay stranded in various parts 
of the bay ; some of them upon hard rock and in such 
a position that they were in danger of heeling over; 
some on the mud of the shoals, and one badly bilged. 

The course of events that ensued remains to our day 
as strange and inexplicable as it was deplorable at the 
time. To follow up the advantage already gained, and 
entirely to disable, or to capture, the stranded French- 
men, was evidently the task to which every nerve in the 
British fleet should have been instantly strained — and so 

7i 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESH1PS 

the resolute Cochrane thought. He was eager to be in 
the thick of it while the Frenchmen were still grounded. 
For it was certain that shortly the captains would succeed 
in warping off their vessels. The matter pressed urgently; 
even an hour later might, almost certainly would, be too 
late. But without the help of his superior, Cochrane 
was able to do but little. Accordingly he flew the signal 
for assistance. To his dismay no notice was taken of it 
by Lord Gambier. Later on Gambier defended himself 
by stating that in his opinion the risk to be run was 
enormous, while the advantage to be gained was in the 
highest degree problematical ; that, in short, the British 
stood to lose heavily by venturing among the French 
fleet. Yet all the while there were but two of the enemy 
that were afloat ; the rest for the moment were stranded, 
and thus almost powerless to do serious harm. The 
French crews, too, were in a desperate panic. Again 
Cochrane implored his commander to send him assistance 
at once. It was two in the afternoon before Lord Gambier 
bestirred himself at all. When he did, the Indefatigable , 
which he sent to Cochrane's help, was prevented by the 
change in the wind from reaching the spot quickly. 

To a man of Lord Cochrane's temperament such treat- 
ment and such delay were intolerable, and his patience 
came to an end. Slipping the anchor of the Impfoieuse, 
he floated with the tide down among the French vessels. 
He was soon firing his broadsides into the Calcutta, at 
the same time keeping the Varsovie also employed with 
his bow-chasers. Before long the former vessel struck her 
colours and her crew deserted her. The Admiral sent an 
officer and men to take charge of the capture. Oddly 
enough, in the confusion, some of the British frigates at 
hand went on firing at the French ship, not knowing she 

72 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

had surrendered. The tale of destruction went on, the 
enemy sustaining disaster upon disaster. 

Time would fail to tell of the thousand and one in- 
cidents that filled up the day and the following night. 
Midnight saw a return of the panic among the French. 
The English fireships had been again prepared, and this 
doubtless the enemy knew, or suspected. As it fell out, 
the wind was now in such a quarter as to prevent their 
use. Just at this time, however, an immense conflagra- 
tion burst forth on the waters, the British having fired 
two of their captures. The blaze alarmed the enemy, 
who for the most part took to their boats and fled in a 
state of terror. They returned to the ships when the 
morning light showed them to be uninjured. The rest of 
the story, and its melancholy ending for Cochrane, needs 
but few words for the telling of it. The dauntless 
Scotchman, burning to finish the task he had taken in 
hand, and in which he had thus far sped with such con- 
spicuous success, prayed for more active help from 
Gambier. The commander sent him a letter drawn up 
in flattering terms, but hinting that enough had been done. 
Cochrane, in a furious rage, refused to take this broad 
hint. At length, after a game of sixes and sevens between 
the two admirals, the chief superseded his subordinate, 
Captain Wolfe being sent to take Lord Cochrane's place. 

The gallant sailor had done his last piece of work for 
his country's Navy ; henceforth his skill as a seaman, his 
dash and marvellous pluck, his incomparable energy and 
resource were to pass into the service of the stranger — 
the Brazilian, the Greek, and what not. It was on this 
wise. 

Lord Gambier had great political influence, and it 
was used to crush his brilliant subordinate. Cochrane 

73 



DUNDONALD AND HIS FIRESHIPS 

took advantage of his position as a member of Parlia- 
ment to denounce his old superior in the House of Com- 
mons, when the question of a lavish reward to Gambier 
came on for discussion. The upshot was that the farce of 
court-martialling Gambier was gone through. He was 
acquitted ; and that acquittal meant, and proved to be, 
professional ruin for the subordinate Admiral who had 
dared to express his opinion of his chief's conduct in the 
Basque Roads affair. Lord Cochrane's services were from 
that hour dispensed with, and he was compelled to offer 
his sword to the foreigner. Cochrane was ousted from 
the Navy he had loved so well, and of which he had been 
one of the greatest ornaments its records can show. He 
received for his splendid services neither thanks nor 
reward, save for the empty Knight Commandership of the 
Bath bestowed upon him by the King. For all that, 
Admiral Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald, is not 
unworthy to stand with Blake, with Raleigh, with Rodney. 



74 



CHAPTER VI 
A "COFFIN SHIP" 

" Coffin ships " — The Melville Castle — Starts with troops and stores 
for the East — A hurricane — Mainmast gone — In Sandgate Bay — 
A leak — All hands to the pumps — A warning from a Dover pilot — 
Astounding parsimony — Two more warnings— Ship crashes upon 
one of the groynes — Pumps abandoned — Ship's back broken ! — 
170 persons perish — Jolly-boat swamped — A raft made, but at 
once overturned — Bowsprit breaks off— Two men escape on hogs- 
head — A second raft — Eighteen survivors out of 454. 

IT is a good many years since Mr. Plimsoll took up the 
cause of the poor sailors who were sent to sea in 
" coffin ships " — rotten vessels unfit to be sent out 
with precious lives on board, and the younger generation 
is in danger of forgetting the very name of the seaman's 
friend. At any rate, under the vastly improved condi- 
tions of life for the present-day British mariner, there are 
many among us who have no notion how bad was the 
state of things before Plimsoirs time — how many were 
the rotten and ill-equipped ships sent out on a far voyage 
across the ocean — what deplorable and heart-breaking 
loss of valuable property and far more valuable lives often 
ensued. Awful cases of wreck, of loss, of suffering, of 
deaths by the hundred, occurred through the carelessness 
or the greed of owners who sent out these " coffin ships." 
A striking instance in point was that of the Melville 
Castle, early in the last century, a catastrophe all the 
more terrible in that it happened at our very doors, as it 

75 



A -COFFIN SHIP" 

were, and within a few yards of sympathising but helpless 
spectators on shore. 

It was in the year 1802 that the Melville Castle, a worn- 
out old East Indiaman, no longer fit for the Company's 
service, was sold for what she would fetch. The pur- 
chasers were a party of Amsterdam merchants, who meant 
to hire out the vessel to the Dutch Government to carry 
troops and stores to the Cape of Good Hope and Batavia. 
The buyers must have known the actual state of the ship, 
but they bought nevertheless, no doubt tempted by the 
very moderate price. The new owners, a thrifty set, did 
not waste money in repairs. To save a few hundreds, 
they patched up the surface, repainted the craft, and re- 
christened her the Vrylieid. To make the farce complete, 
the Dutch Government surveyor reported that the ship 
was in perfect repair and fit for the business in hand. 
What the VryheicTs real condition was, the lamentable 
sequel only too forcibly showed. 

Without delay the stores were put on board, and the 
soldiers embarked, a selection of 320 men having been 
made from a force of three thousand who had been 
marched from Rotterdam. These were consequently 
picked men, and were of various nationalities — Dutch, 
French, Germans. The officers and a few private pas- 
sengers followed, and the vessel sailed on November 24th. 

All went well for a day or two. Presently a strong 
breeze sprang up, and from a bad quarter, causing much 
delay and some anxiety, the captain especially being un- 
easy, for he was under no delusions as to the real con- 
dition of his ship. He struck his top-gallant masts and 
yards, and the vessel laboured less heavily. By this time 
the anxiety was spreading to the crew and the troops. 
The wind increased in violence, and before long a terrific 

76 



A "COFFIN SHIP" 

storm was upon the luckless Vryheid. The ladies and 
children, already seriously ill from the effects of the rough 
weather, now became terribly alarmed. They grew more 
and more frightened, many of them being in a state of 
collapse, physical and mental. The officers came out well 
at this trying time, going among the soldiers and pas- 
sengers, ministering to them, and endeavouring to calm 
their fears. Captain Scherman, the skipper, had his own 
wife on board, with an infant in arms, and him the 
women beset, imploring him to save them, till the poor 
man was almost distracted. All the while the ship was 
driving furiously before the gale. 

By Monday afternoon the tempest had increased to a 
hurricane of the most violent kind. Suddenly the main- 
mast broke off and went by the board, carrying with it a 
number of unfortunate fellows, and injuring four or five 
in its fall, a catastrophe that naturally augmented the 
general alarm. The ship was now quite near to the 
Kentish coast, and the people could be clearly seen 
watching the vessel from the shore. But for all practical 
purposes the Vryheid might as well have been a hundred 
miles out at sea. The waves were tremendous, and rolled 
irresistibly along, surging over the ship till it seemed as if 
each moment would see her entirely swamped. No help 
was to be looked for from the shore, and from this time 
even the bolder spirits began to lose heart. 

Captain Scherman had hoisted signals of distress, but 
there was as yet no sign of a response from the land. By 
this time the vessel had reached the well-known bight — 
bay it can hardly be called — bearing indifferently the 
names of Sandgate Bay, Hythe Bay, Dymchurch Bay. 
Here there was a trifle of shelter and the force of the 
tempest was somewhat lessened. Taking advantage of 

77 



A "COFFIN SHIP" 

this, the officers saw that every person on board was pro- 
vided with another good meal, a wise step, for no one 
could tell what demands might not presently be made on 
his strength. Alas ! just in the midst of it all the alarm- 
ing report ran round that the ship had sprung a leak. 
Instantly the pumps were manned, and for three hours 
the men Avorked desperately, the tempest all the while 
gaining in force, the storm having, in fact, returned with 
redoubled violence. 

But the shrieks of the wind through the rigging were 
almost drowned by the piercing cries of the women and 
children, who, growing ever more terrified, had by this 
time become frantic. The husbands were utterly un- 
manned by the distress and the screams of their wives. 
But excellent order was still kept, no case of reckless 
resort to drink or violence being seen. Thus passed the 
long night of Monday. The dawn on the Tuesday showed 
that the ship was not far from the village of Dymchurch, 
and, the best bower anchor suddenly parting, the Vryheid 
began to drift fast towards the long embankment known 
as Dymchurch Wall, a dyke whose purpose is to keep the 
sea from the low-lying Romney Marsh behind it. All 
that trying morning the captain flew his signals of distress, 
but the weather had become thick, and it was doubtful if 
the signals could be seen from the shore. Guns were 
fired at frequent intervals, but whether the sound was 
heard on land above the roar of the sea, or if it was, 
whether any help could be sent, it was impossible to tell. 
But now a diversion occurred, a pilot boat from Dover 
making its appearance. 

" Go back to Deal or Hythe, and wait," was shouted 
from it, " you are lost to a certainty, if you don't." 

So ominous an injunction, from men who knew what 

78 



A "COFFIN SHIP" 

they were talking about, too, would, one might think, have 
been instantly obeyed. But the skipper refused to hearken. 
He did not think the case so bad as all that, he said, but 
there can be little doubt that he was greatly influenced 
in his refusal by the consideration that there would be 
half-a-guinea port dues to pay, if he put back. This bit 
of Dutch parsimony was to cost Scherman dear, and not 
only Scherman, unfortunately, but so many hundreds of 
poor mortals with him. Indeed, the price to be paid for 
this miserable piece of thrift was terrible. The Dover pilot 
was followed by two other boats sent by the Commodore 
at Deal. Captain Scherman was hailed from these and 
asked to heave to ; he took no notice. Then the boatmen 
fired shots as a further signal ; these also were treated 
with contempt, and the ship was allowed to drive. In 
their desperation the Commodore's men came right under 
the stern of the Dutchman, imploring the captain to 
make an attempt to save his ship while he was yet able. 
No reply whatever was vouchsafed, and in despair the 
Englishmen dropped behind and in a few minutes were 
out of sight. It seems extraordinary that any captain can 
ever have pursued such a suicidal course as did the skipper 
of the Vryheid on this occasion. 

Speedy repentance came to him, however, and he was 
in a state of despair that he had so fearfully neglected his 
opportunities. But it was too late now ; regrets were un- 
availing. The roar of the winds and the waves was 
frightful, the sea swollen and turbulent beyond belief. 
The vessel was quite near the shore, and the wind, from 
the south and south-west, was driving her furiously along 
and athwart the beach. It was seen that she must strike 
one or other of the long groynes that ran across the shingly 
strand, 

79 



A "COFFIN SHIP" 

The worst fears were realised ; on trie very first of these 
groynes the ship dashed with tremendous force, crashing 
into the piles, against which she began to bump with 
disastrous effect. It was certain that she could not long 
stand such a battering. The mizenmast was cut away; 
the water-casks were staved ; the ballast was thrown out ; 
everything that could lighten the vessel was thrown over- 
board. It was all in vain. Torn with grief now, and 
overwhelmed by the reproaches of his passengers, the 
skipper passed a terrible time. 

By the advice of the Admiral, who was on board, the 
sheet anchor was now cut away ; the vessel sheered off a 
couple of cable-lengths, and hopes began to be enter- 
tained that she might be got off altogether. The hopes 
were dashed at once. The water swirled into the hold so 
fast that the men were compelled to leave the pumps and 
run for it. Even if they had remained, the pumps had 
become choked with sand and were useless. Just then the 
foremast went over with a crash, carrying with it twelve 
poor fellows. A moment they were seen struggling in the 
boiling sea, and then they disappeared from sight amidst 
the agonised cries of those left on board. The end was 
not far away now. 

Singular to relate, the women began to take off most of 
their clothing, that being the fashion with the Dutch, it 
appeared. They were passed along the bowspirit in company 
with their husbands and children. There they clung, in 
the bitter November wind and drenched with the cold 
waves. The admiral and others of the officers, with their 
ladies, remained on the quarter-deck. Matters grew each 
moment worse. The rudder was found to be unshipped, 
and the tiller, left to itself, was swinging violently hither 
and thither, tearing up the planking of the deck. The 

80 



A "COFFIN SHIP" 

sea was rushing in at every port. The scene was grand 
but awful, as the foaming waves made every moment a 
clean breach, sweeping the craft with such mighty force 
that it was almost impossible for the poor wretches to 
hang on. 

Prayers were said, a pathetic spectacle. The rest of 
the anchors were cut away; the guns were again fired, 
but their noise was quite drowned by the fearful roaring 
of the sea. Once more the ship dashed upon the piles of the 
groynes ; the people on shore were but four cable-lengths 
from the doomed ship. On the Wall were plenty of men 
eager to help, had help been possible. The suspense, both 
on board and on shore, now became awful. Would every 
soul perish, and so near land ? Would most of the poor 
wretches reach safety, separated from it by only so short 
a space ? 

A word as to the condition of the ship's timbers may 
be put in here. The first real strain on the vessel had 
shown how rotten were her planks and beams. It was 
found that many of the boards of the keel had broken 
away at the ribs, the wood about the nails being little 
better than saturated dust well painted over ! Seams had 
started in every direction. Here and there the ends of 
planks and beams were hanging loose. The new paint 
had but served to conceal from the uncritical eye the 
decay and weakness within. Truly this was a "coffin 
ship," albeit at a time long anterior to the invention of 
the phrase. 

"It was now about twenty-five minutes after eight,' 1 
says the account given by one of the few survivors, " the 
morning was peculiarly dark, and, what added new horror 
to the terrifying scene, we were within four or five cables 
of the shore, and could discern several people on the 
f 81 



i 



A "COFFIN SHIP" 

Wall, but who had no power of affording us relief. In 
a few moments a most tremendous sea approached, which 
drove against our poor vessel with such terrific force that, 
after rocking like a cradle for two or three seconds, she 
split her timbers and immediately broke her back ! About 
a hundred and seventy persons were instantly immerged 
in the sea, not one of whom reached the land ! It is, 
perhaps, totally out of the power of any pen to convey an 
adequate idea of our horrible state ; but the reader may 
figure to himself the situation, when he is informed that 
the vessel, entirely torn asunder, showed nearly three 
hundred objects clinging to the various parts of the wreck 
that appeared above water, whilst the most piercing 
shrieks and cries from the women and children entirely 
drowned the turbulent noise of the devouring element." 

The jolly-boat was now cleared and launched, and 
several of the officers, including the Admiral and the 
colonel of the military, with eight ladies, pushed off in 
her. Their respite was short indeed ; a fearful sea caught 
them, and boat and passengers disappeared. The captain 
himself was not of the party, and Mrs. Scherman had pre- 
ferred to stay by her husband's side. The colonel was 
presently observed struggling in the raging waves, sup- 
porting his wife with one hand and endeavouring to swim 
with the other. Another enormous wave at once en- 
gulfed them, and they were never seen again. 

Undeterred by the fearful fate of the officers and ladies, 
which their eyes had just seen, a number of the men began 
to put together a raft, using the broken spars and other 
parts of the wreckage available. A considerable number 
of persons crowded on to this frail thing, some of the 
remaining officers and ladies among them ; of women, in I 
fact, there were many. A few yards from the side of thel 

82 



A "COFFIN SHIP" 

vessel an awful gust swept down upon the raft, and it was 
immediately overturned completely, every soul on it being 
tossed into the roaring waves. No one of them all 
escaped to land. Hardly an officer or a lady was now left 
upon the wreck. 

The trembling survivors had for the most part taken 
refuge in the rigging or about the bowsprit. It was cal- 
culated that there were about a hundred so situated. 
Then came a crash — a piercing cry ; the bowsprit had 
broken off short, carrying with it its living load. Many 
were flung off into the waters, others managed to cling 
desperately to the floating timber. The bowsprit drifted 
in towards the shore, and hopes arose in the breasts of the 
poor mortals upon it. Nearer to safety they approached ; 
the Wall was all but reached. It was not to be ; another 
mighty wave dashed resistlessly upon them and in an 
instant they were gone. The sea between wreck and shore 
was full of agonised and struggling beings. But it was 
for a few moments only ; then all had been swept from 
sight. A touching spectacle was seen. Captain Scherman, 
ike the colonel, was observed supporting his wife and 
endeavouring to swim. But at last he succumbed to the 
cold and fatigue, and seeing that all hope was gone, the 
man clasped his partner in close embrace, and the pair 
sank together. 

Many of the survivors — if so small a remnant could be 
said to be many — were by this time more or less demented, 
and made the most frantic efforts to escape. Flinging 
limself upon any bit of wreckage that came to his hand, 
i man would float off, to be drowned before he had gone 
nany yards. Several persons lost their lives by madness 
)f this kind. Not more than forty or fifty of all the 
mndreds remained now. 

83 



A -COFFIN SHIP" 

But an experience of a different kind came, and it was 
high time that something should come to put a little heart 
into the handful of survivors. A couple of men, who had 
lashed themselves to an empty hogshead, after terrible 
buffetings, and numberless tossings beneath the waves, by 
great good fortune touched the Wall, and were pulled out 
of danger. Standing on the dyke the two fortunate ones 
waved their caps to their brethren left on the wreck, and 
cheered. These were the first of all the V?*yheicTs com- 
pany to be saved. 

Marvellously comforted and heartened by this unlooked- 
for bit of success, small though it was, the thirty-three 
still upon the broken parts of the ship constructed a 
second raft, an awful sea running the while. As for the 
wreck itself, it had by this time parted into a hundred 
fragments, and no longer afforded shelter for the miserable 
beings upon it. Fearful though the risk was, therefore, 
every one of the remnant got upon the raft. It was 
pushed off, and progress was made through a sea rolling 
mountains high and ghastly with floating bodies. In spite 
of their utmost efforts, seventeen out of the thirty-three | 
were swept off, while not a few of those left were badly 
injured from the contusions they received. 

Amidst the most awful excitement among those watch- 
ing from the shore, the raft neared the wall. Willing 
hands in plenty were ready ; a hold was got, and the 
sixteen last survivors were hauled to land. With the two 
who had escaped on the hogshead, a total of eighteen 
persons had thus been saved out of a company of 454 all 
told — a pitiful remnant ! Of the eighteen who escaped 
with their lives, eight were soldiers and ten seamen. Not 
a woman, not a child, not an officer, not a private pas 
senger reached the shore alive. 

84 






A "COFFIN SHIP" 

The people of the neighbourhood acted nobly, the 
towns of Hythe and Folkestone subscribing liberally for 
the benefit of the sufferers. Not a thing was stolen ; even 
a chest containing a large sum of money remained for 
some time on the beach without being robbed. 

Thus perished more than four hundred souls, the vic- 
tims of greed and reckless unconcern on the part of those 
responsible. 



85 



CHAPTER VII 
THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

What a typhoon is— Hong Kong, September 18th, 1906— The first 
news— Crowded harbour— The tornado comes with terrific force — 
Huge waves— Thousands of ships and boats sunk— A letter from 
an old schoolboy — The Governor's first report — An American 
steamer landed high beyond the sea-wall— Fearful loss of life — The 
Fatshan steamer — A plucky captain — A hundred and fifty lives 
saved by three men — The vessel safely beached — The Heung Shan 
— First mate swims ashore with line — Saves three hundred Chinese 
— Violence on board — Loss of life — A renewal of the storm — The 
Bishop among the victims— Splendid efforts of the authorities— 
The aftermath. 

WHAT is a typhoon ? The dictionary informs us 
that it is " a violent hurricane which occurs in 
the Chinese seas. Probably so called because 
thought to be the work of Typhon, a fabled giant. " One 
of the most terrible instances of these dreaded Eastern 
hurricanes occurred at Hong Kong in September, 1906. 
"The typhoon is one of the most dreaded of anything 
connected with the Celestial's terrors," says one who was 
witness of the awful storm just referred to, "and I can 
quite understand the reason of his dread, for no one who 
has not seen a typhoon can possibly realise the awful 
effects which it produces." And certainly a more appal- 
ling catastrophe of the kind than that which befell the 
little British Colony on the occasion in question is hardly 
likely to be experienced again in our generation, it is 
fervently to be trusted. 

86 



THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

The earliest news of the disaster reached England by 
way of Manila, in the Philippines, where a startling tele- 
gram had been received from Hong Kong. It was about 
ten in the morning of September 18th, 1906, when the 
message reached Manila, and the typhoon was just over 
at the time. It had finished its fearful work of devasta- 
tion and death, although it had not begun till the break- 
fast hour. The first message simply said that the storm 
had lasted two hours ; that it had destroyed an immense 
amount of shipping and other property ; that the loss of 
life was certainly very great; and that the damage would 
amount to a total of at least a million dollars — a concise 
but terrible message to be sent over the wires. Later 
accounts first doubled, then trebled, and finally magnified 
many times the earlier calculations as to the loss of life 
and property. 

There had been nothing to foretell the advent of such 
a fearful tempest. The day before had been a perfect 
day ; one who " lived to tell the tale " says he was out 
yachting on that day, going for a twenty-mile cruise, "on 
a lovely sea, with a perfect breeze." The Observatory of 
Hong Kong, on the morning of the typhoon, issued no 
warning, merely intimating that the day was likely to be 
somewhat overcast. Loud complaints and many were 
afterwards made against the Observatory officials, but, 
as it abundantly appeared afterwards, they were in no 
way to blame, and the Governor publicly said as much 
after due inquiry. There was absolutely nothing to show 
that such an awful visitation was at hand ; the sudden- 
ness with which the tempest began was absolute. " We 
had just started business," wrote a gentleman who was 
resident there at the time, " when, without any warning 
whatever, a terrible gale swept down through the har- 

87 



THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

bour, and the water was immediately lashed into such a 
fury as beggars description." 

It is difficult to realise the situation. The port of 
Hong Kong is crowded with shipping of all nationalities 
and builds ; in the river lie thousands of Chinese boats, 
with their swarming populations going about their morn- 
ing occupations as usual ; off the coast, more especially 
between the island and the mainland, are numberless 
craft, huge liners, mailboats, sailing vessels, gunboats, 
launches of every description. The sea is almost un- 
ruffled, the breeze that stirs it only a faint one. All at 
once comes a change, and from the west there bears down 
upon land and sea alike the most terrific tornado seen 
within living memory, even in these typhoon-swept seas. 
Not a man of all the tens of thousands on land or water 
is expecting such a visitation, and consequently no pre- 
paration of any sort has been made to meet it. 

No picture can portray, no pen can describe the scene 
that followed. The wind shrieked, the water was in a 
moment tossed into madness, huge waves rolled irresist- 
ibly towards the shore, often running far inland, and 
into the very streets of the town, crashing into the forest 
of masts, overwhelming the smaller craft instantly and 
driving the bigger ships headlong towards the beach or 
the cliffs, carrying many a vessel high out of the water 
altogether. Collisions between the driving ships were 
innumerable and in most cases disastrous. One telegram 
tells of vessels being cast ashore everywhere, and of 
wrecks piled up in the docks and along the sea-front, 
while craft, big and little, were carried into the very streets. 

A few lines from the letter of an "old boy r> to his 
school in England are worth quoting : — 

"There are nearly four thousand junks and sampans 

88 



THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

always lying in the harbour, and each one carries from 
ten to twenty-five people, night and day. It was a 
pitiful sight to see these craft literally hurled through 
the waves just like pieces of cork, dashed from side to 
side, and striking either some big ship or the pier. It 
was so sickening to me to see these hapless men, women, 
and children blown from their junk or sampan that I 
had to turn away, or I should have lost my reason. 
Chinese babies are always strapped on their mother's 
back, and one can never forget the terrible sight of these 
helpless ones literally dashed to death. Men-of-war and 
large ocean liners were piled up, high and dry, ashore ; 
while torpedo-boats and smaller craft were either sunk or 
smashed to pieces." 

For an hour and a half or two hours the hurricane 
lasted, destruction at work the whole time. Panic took 
possession of the natives, and they were for the most part 
unable either to save themselves, or to render assistance 
to their neighbours. Appalling as the loss of life was, it 
would have been still worse but for the cool heads, the 
energy and resource, the grit and dash of the Europeans 
and Americans present. Many fine examples of pluck 
and devotion were seen and reported, and doubtless there 
were plenty more which never came to public knowledge. 
Yet how little could any assistance of man avail while 
the storm was at its worst ! The crashing of vessel 
against vessel or against piers and walls ; the howling of 
the hurricane ; the shouts of men and the heartrending 
screams of women, as they were flung like straws upon 
the seething waters, to be instantly swallowed up without 
hope of rescue, these things must have unnerved many a 
strong man, and the more so, as no one could tell whither 
or to whom the tempest might not carry its ravages. 

8gu 



THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

The first report of the Governor to the Colonial Office 
at home was to the effect that fifteen European ships, ten 
river steamers, twenty launches, and a large number of 
smaller craft were either stranded or had been totally 
wrecked. This report referred, of course, only to the 
immediate neighbourhood of the shore. What the tale 
of lost ships and lost lives out at sea might be could not 
yet be ascertained, but it needed no great effort of the 
imagination to forecast the accounts that would presently 
be coming in. There was the fishing fleet, too, a very 
large company of boats, away and exposed to the full 
fury of the storm. Many hundreds of folk were fearing 
the worst for their friends and property away at the fish- 
ing station. As for the destruction on shore, it was 
enormous. The Commodore reported that roofs had been 
swept off in scores, buildings instantly levelled with the 
ground, piers smashed, sea-walls and defences damaged to 
an extraordinary extent. 

Strange and exciting scenes were witnessed on every 
hand, and it is impossible to give in detail the thrilling 
story of each single ship and its terrible experiences. 
The Mont eagle, a large steamer, was tossed ashore as if it 
had been a bit of stick, while the Canadian Pacific liner 
Empress of India managed to ride out of the greatest 
peril into safety, one of the very few cases where a large 
vessel got off safely and undamaged. A still more extra- 
ordinary spectacle was witnessed in the Kowloon quarter, 
on the mainland. Here a big American steamer, the 
S. P. Hitchcock, was carried with a sweep towards the 
great sea-wall, and with one mighty heave was lifted 
bodily on to the top, and finally landed, high and dry, 
beyond. Similar things were seen, however, all along the 
coast. For many a huge vessel a channel had afterwards 

90 



THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

to be cut to enable the ship to get back to her own 
element, a heavy cost in time and money. The Nord- 
Deutscher-Lloyd Prince Wdldemar, a vessel of large size, 
drove along with resistless force, crashing through the 
wooden piers as if they had been matchwood. A launch 
some distance off the shore was caught, and in a moment 
it was shattered and swamped, every person on board 
perishing. They were all Chinese, and numbered a 
hundred and thirty all told. 

The story of the Fatshan, a steam vessel belonging to the 
Hong Kong-Canton Company, is one of the more remark- 
able, though the number of " incidents " that occurred 
during the hurricane was naturally very large. The 
Fatshan, caught by the storm, was blown against the 
French mail steamer Polynesien, and a violent collision 
ensued. Captain Thomas, the skipper of the Fatshan, 
and two of his officers were whites, the rest of the crew 
were all natives. Two men were killed in the accident, 
and others, including the captain, injured. At once the 
Fatshan was in the utmost peril, and so serious did the 
state of things appear to the Chinese, that they fell into 
a panic, and one and all scrambled pell-mell into the 
Frenchman. Captain Thomas, himself injured, was left 
with his mate and the engineer to manage the ship. 
With marvellous pluck he stood for Shelter Bay, where 
he hoped to find the tempest raging less furiously. Soon 
he met with a Chinese vessel in distress, and at once 
attempted to render assistance. For more than an hour 
and a half the Fatshan stood by, as near as was safe, in 
that frightful sea ; it was wonderful that she in her 
damaged condition held together for so long. The three 
gallant fellows on board of her had their reward, saving 
fully a hundred and fifty of the Chinamen. They had 

9i 



THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

done a deed that was almost unique, one would think. 
As Captain Thomas neared the land, he perceived how 
great was his danger, and how difficult it would be to 
save his ship. Then it was he showed his fine seamanship, 
for in spite of the driving hurricane he managed to pick 
and choose his ground, and at length ran her ashore at a 
favourable spot ; in fact, it was afterwards reported that 
the skipper had successfully beached his vessel, a great 
relief after the first account, to the effect that the Fatshan 
had been driven ashore and had become a total wreck. 

But there were other notable rescues. A Japanese 
steamer saved a crew of sixty-six Chinese together with 
an English pilot who was on board. There was a large 
steamer, the Heung Shan, homeward bound from Macao, 
with as many as seventeen hundred passengers on her. 
The tempest struck her and she stranded off Lantgo 
Island. The captain lost no time in sending his second 
mate with ten seamen in a boat to Hong Kong to fetch 
help. In such a sea it is not to be wondered that the 
boat drifted for about fourteen hours, the men unable to 
make the port, and they were at last fortunately picked 
up by the steamer Hankoio. During this time the first 
mate of the Heung Shan, with splendid courage, fasten- 
ing a line about him, flung himself into the raging sea 
and made for the shore. By wonderful good fortune he 
succeeded in reaching the land with his line. A rope was 
at once passed along between ship and shore, and com- 
munication thus established, the passengers were sent one 
by one out of the vessel. The work was persevered in 
till the gallant officer had the satisfaction of saving some 
three hundred souls. The mate now returned to his ship, 
presumably because of the strange reports that had 
reached him of the doings on board. When he arrived 

92 



THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

he found that some of the passengers had become violent, 
and were careering about the ship with knives, threatening 
and robbing. No doubt they had become demoralised and 
desperate, seeing that it would be impossible to save more 
than a fraction of those on board, while the ship itself 
was in such a hopeless condition. The Europeans on board 
the Heimg Shan were fortunately all saved, including three 
ladies. The bulk of the Chinese, with the exception of 
the three hundred rescued by the mate's efforts, were all 
drowned. 

At midnight there was a renewal of the storm. For 
six hours the tempest raged again, though with nothing 
like the fury of the morning's typhoon. Next day reports 
began to reach the town from some of the outlying 
quarters, and the Governor was able to make a rough 
estimate as to the probable total loss of life and property. 
He set down the number of deaths as about five thousand, 
nearly all of natives, a figure that unhappily proved to be 
far short of the true one. Ship after ship was reported 
lost with all hands. One of the saddest accounts came 
from the fishing waters. Practically the entire fishing 
fleet of the port, to the number of six hundred boats, had 
been lost. This frightful disaster at once brought up the 
total of known deaths to ten thousand, and no doubt 
there were many more of which no account was or could 
be taken. 

The loss amongst the Europeans and Americans was, 
as has been already said, very small. But there were 
losses, and some of them peculiarly sad ones. Among the 
Englishmen who perished was the respected Bishop of 
Hong Kong, Dr. Hoare. He was out on one of his mis- 
sionary rounds in his houseboat when the storm came upon 
him so suddenly. He lashed himself to the mast for 

93 



THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

greater security, but the craft was overwhelmed and the 
occupants perished. It was on the mainland, at a place 
called Castle Peak Bay, a dozen miles from Hong Kong 
itself, that the Pioneer, the Bishop's yacht, foundered. A 
Government launch was placed at the disposal of Mrs. 
Hoare, who went out in search of her husband. For a 
time his fate was not certain, though the worst was 
feared, as his boat was found stranded. Then one of his 
boots and his Bible were picked up, and these finds 
unfortunately left no room for doubt. 

An English couple, with their child, were among the 
victims, and theirs was a very sad case among many others 
equally sad. They had gone off, like a good many others, 
for a few days 1 holiday on a launch, were taken unawares, 
and all lost. A number of Sunday holiday-makers were 
amongst those who lost their lives. Altogether there 
were about twenty English drowned. There were also a 
few French, including a couple of the officers and three 
of the men belonging to a torpedo-boat. 

The authorities, the moment it was possible to do any- 
thing, set about the work of saving and helping and 
relieving. The native Chinese, the victims of a hopeless 
fatalism, simply resigned themselves to the inevitable, as 
they conceived it, and made few efforts to save those in 
danger. And when the fate of friends became certain, 
and even when the dead bodies were brought in, the 
survivors showed no signs of grief, but accepted the blow 
without a sigh or a tear. The Government and the 
harbour officials did their utmost to clear away the 
wreckage, to repair damage, to succour the injured, the 
homeless, the destitute. A subscription list was opened, 
and before long help began to pour in also from England 
and from other countries. 

94 



THE HONG KONG TYPHOON 

"The harbour is now one mass of wreckage," writes 
the same old schoolboy whose testimony has been cited 
before. " Here and there one can see a funnel or a mast, 
stretching up a few feet out of the water, for many of the 
ships sank with all hands. The aftermath of this terrible 
disaster began to come upon us with full force yesterday, 
two days after the occurrence, when the corpses began to 
be washed up. Over six hundred and fifty were recovered 
yesterday, and that is a very small part of the total, for 
it is estimated that fully ten thousand souls have 
perished." 



95 



CHAPTER VIII 
A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

The Doggerbank— The Hull fleets— Russian Baltic fleet on its way to 
Japan — A bad attack of nerves — The warships approach — Search- 
lights turned on — Firing suddenly commenced — Showers of shot 
and shell — The Moulmein and the Mino — The Swift and its 
skipper — A terrible scene on board the Crane — Death of the 
skipper and mate — The vessel sinking — Gull comes up to help — 
An awful spectacle — Firing suddenly stopped — The report of the 
doctor on the Hospital Mission ship — Russians steam away — 
Indignation universal— The Russian version of the story — All their 
own fault ! 

THERE is little need to explain where and what the 
Doggerbank is, for everybody has heard of this 
great fishing ground in the North Sea. The bank 
is situated about midway between our own shores and 
those of Holland and the Jutland peninsula. It is a large 
shoal, in shape roughly rhomboidal, and it is probably the 
submerged remnant of the land that once occupied the 
site of the present German Ocean, in the far-back days 
when the Thames was a tributary of the Rhine, and their 
joint waters, together with those of the Elbe and many 
another stream, made their way northward into the 
Atlantic beyond the limits of our island group. To the 
Doggerbank resort large fishing fleets, more especially, in 
our own country, from Hull and Grimsby and Yarmouth. 
Immense quantities of fish are every day brought from the 
Doggerbank ; indeed, the sight of the far-famed Fish 

96 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

Pontoon at Grimsby, for instance, when the trawlers are 
in, is one to fill the stranger with astonishment, and it 
certainly cannot be matched elsewhere in the world. It is 
not many years ago when the fishing fleets consisted 
entirely of sailing vessels, but in our days the steam 
trawler has almost altogether ousted the sailing craft from 
the Doggerbank ground. 

On the night of October 20th, 1904, there was a goodly 
company of these steam fishing vessels at work out there. 
They belonged mainly to two Hull fleets, the Game Cock 
and the Great Northern, and the total craft present 
numbered about a hundred and sixty. The night was 
dark and somewhat hazy, yet not inconveniently so, large 
objects being discernible at a distance of a quarter of a mile 
or thereabouts. The ships' 1 lights were all in order, the 
men busy pursuing their toilsome and hazardous calling 
by the help of the brilliant acetylene lamps that flooded 
the decks with light. The admiral of the fleet, as ever, 
is watchful over the crowd of vessels and the hundreds of 
lives depending on his care and vigilance. The Hospital 
Mission ship is in the midst of the crowd, the doctor ready 
to attend to the injured and the sick, the missionary to the 
spiritual needs of the toilers of the deep. There is, in 
short, nothing to mark this particular night fro,m any 
other of the season. 

Meanwhile the Baltic Fleet of Russia, under the 
command of Admiral Rozhdestvensky, is on its way to 
Japan, to take part in the war there, and it is passing 
across the North Sea at this very time. The Russians are de- 
spondent, for their country has sustained disastrous defeats, 
by both land and sea, at the hands of the Japanese. More- 
over, all sorts of wild rumours are afloat as to the fleets of 
torpedo-boats that 'have been sent out by the enemy, 
G 97 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

to stop, and if possible destroy, the Russian ships on their 
passage. The nerves of almost every man on the Russian 
vessels would seem to have become thoroughly unstrung, 
not even excepting the Admiral in supreme command. 
All sorts of wild and improbable stories have been 
circulating, and believed, as to the nearness of the 
ubiquitous Japs. Their torpedo-boats had been looked for 
in the very waters of the Baltic itself ; then it had been 
certain that there were submarine mines laid in the 
Sound ; off the Skaw somebody had actually seen the 
enemy's ships ! Such are the tales going round the 
Russian fleet. The Danes had laughed at the nervous 
Russians and their dread of the Japanese warships, which 
existed in their own imagination only, so far as those 
waters were concerned. 

That panic prevailed in every part of the fleet, and all 
day and all night long, was afterwards abundantly acknow- 
ledged by the Russians themselves. The testimony of 
their engineer-in-chief, to cite no other, is conclusive on 
this point. Over and over again, in his account of the 
voyage of the Baltic Fleet (From Libau to Tsushima), 
he makes notes of this kind. " Panic prevails on board." 
" All were in a state of nervous tension and panic." And 
quite early in the voyage the order had been given " to 
train all guns on every passing vessel"! To make the 
situation more strange, the fleet was miles out of its 
proper course. The Admiral had chosen, for some un- 
known reason, to describe "an obtuse angle instead of 
a straight line." Such was the state of things at mid- 
night. 

About one in the morning of Saturday, October 21st, 
the Doggerbank fishing fleets saw a number of big black 
objects looming through the darkness and the slight haze. 

98 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

These were soon seen to be warships. The first portion 
of the oncoming fleet stopped and turned a number of 
powerful searchlights full on the fishing-smacks, dazzling 
the eyes of the men at work in them. The inspection 
lasted some little time, giving the Russians ample oppor- 
tunity to ascertain the nature of the Doggerbank fleet and 
how the men were engaged. About this there could be 
no manner of doubt, however. The warships then sailed 
round the fishing vessels, evidently with the intention of 
ascertaining how many they were and whether they were 
all genuine fishermen. The close inspection ended, the 
Russians sailed on their way southwards. 

Shortly afterwards the second portion of the war fleet 
came up, and again the searchlights were turned on. 
This time the Russians seemed to be about to pass right 
through the middle of the fishing craft, and the admiral 
of the trawling fleets sent up a couple of green rockets as 
an instruction to his men to move away a little to star- 
board, so as to be more out of the way of the battleships. 
To the surprise of the Englishmen these ships now drew 
up in battle order, having, however, already fouled some 
of the nets. In the c&se of one of the Russian vessels, it 
was afterwards ascertained, the screw had become entangled 
in and for a time stopped by fishing tackle. 

Suddenly there is a flash, a thundering boom. Another 
follows, and then another. The fishermen are delighted. 
Here is Lord Charles Beresford with his squadron, and 
the Hull men are lucky enough to be in at the very be- 
ginning of a striking series of night manceuvres by British 
men-of-war ! It is a treat in store ! Such are the first 
thoughts of the workers as they rest for a moment to look 
at the display. So little notion have they as to the 
nationality of the battleships and the real nature of the 

99 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

attack. The poor fellows are speedily undeceived. Some- 
thing strikes the water with a splash near one of the 
trawlers. For an instant the men look one another in the 
face in wonderment. Then there is a scream that rends 
the air, followed by a tremendous explosion up above, 
and the deck of the fisher ship is swept by a shower of 
shot ! It is a shell that has been fired and has burst ! 
For a moment the thought runs through the minds of the 
fishing crews that Lord Charles's men must be drunk. 

By this time there was a veritable sea-fight going on, 
if that could be called a fight in which one side was com- 
posed entirely of defenceless fishermen. Shot and shell 
whizzed through the air, and vessel after vessel was struck, 
the decks being riddled by the deadly hail from the guns. 
The fishermen as a rale ran below, thunderstruck and in 
mortal terror, as they might well be, ignorant who was 
the enemy, for what purpose the bombardment had been 
ordered, or how the matter would end. 

The scene is without a parallel in all the annals of the 
sea. A crowd of inoffensive and unarmed men quietly 
engaged in their ordinary toil, and on their accustomed 
ground, the place in the middle of the ocean and hundreds 
of miles from their homes, the darkness and thickness of 
the night, the men thinking of anything but war, for their 
country is at peace. Then shot and shell flying in scores 
through the air, the thunder of battle, ships damaged and 
disabled, men wounded or killed lying prostrate on their 
decks, the groans of the injured, the general consternation 
and terror — surely the like of this has never before been 
witnessed on any waters ! 

Two of the fishing vessels, the Moulmein and the 
Afiiio, were close to each other when the bombardment 
began. One of the first of the shots passed clean through 

ioo 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

the former, entering on the port side and going out on the 
starboard side. The Mino at the same time was swept by 
a hot fire, and the hull was badly damaged. In fact, on 
examination afterwards, it was found that the vessel had 
as many as sixteen holes in her. Most of these were for- 
tunately above the water-line, but there was one nasty 
hole just below it. The skipper, with quick presence of 
mind, seized a piece of wood and plugged up the hole, 
thus saving his vessel. Luckily none of the men on these 
two trawlers received much injury from the shot, though 
the trimmer of the Mino was wounded by the flying 
splinters. 

Another trawler has its story told by its skipper ; this 
was the carrier Swift. Says Captain Fletcher, " I had 
altered the course towards the west, so as to give the war- 
ships a wider berth, when a shell struck the water a few 
feet from our port bow, and, bursting, gave us a drenching. 
I shouted to the crew that the warships were firing shells, 
so that they might lie down. I stuck to the bridge, but 
took care to get behind the funnel and the ventilator, so 
that I might at least have them between me and damage. 
The firing lasted for a quarter of an hour or twenty 
minutes. And now their shot whizzed between the wires 
over the bridge, a foot or two from my head. We could 
see the flash of guns from four different ships.*" 

Cries were heard from the trawler Crane of the Game 
Cock fleet. Terrible things were happening there. Upon 
this vessel fell the worst of the injuries inflicted by the 
Russians. The boatswain was badly hurt and others of 
the crew received injuries. Then came a couple of shots 
which instantly carried off the heads of the skipper and 
the second mate. Their comrades were struck with horror 
when they saw the headless trunks lying on the deck. 

IOI 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

Meanwhile the ill-fated trawler was being made a chief 
target for the guns, as it would appear, and soon the 
second engineer reported that she was sinking. Shouts 
were raised for assistance from the other boats. 

The son of the skipper, Smith, was asleep when the 
bombardment began, but the din awoke him and he 
rushed on deck. A terrible experience was his. There, 
in a pool of blood, lay the headless body of his father, 
and, hard by, the body of the mate likewise decapitated. 
The engineer had a wound in the chest, another of the 
crew had his hand shot off. Young Smith himself had a 
very narrow escape. The instant he appeared on deck 
a shot whistled close to his head, fortunately leaving him 
quite uninjured. The lamp near which he was standing 
at the time was smashed by the missile. As the vessel 
was fast sinking a dash was made for the boat. To the 
dismay of the men it was found that the windlass rope 
had been shot away, and that the boat could not be 
lowered. Here was a crew of injured men on board 
a sinking ship, under the deadly fire of warships in the 
darkness of the night, and no boat available for rescue. 
Truly all the elements of horror were here in all their 
terrible force. 

One of the seamen seized a red lamp and waved it as a 
signal of distress. It says everything for the pluck of 
the Hull fishers when, amidst all the terrors and dangers 
of the situation, assistance came at once. The Gull was 
speedily alongside, and every man on board the Crane 
was taken off, the mutilated bodies of skipper and 
mate being also carried away. Within a short space 
of time after the rescue the trawler sank. Captain 
Green, of the Gull, afterwards stated that the spectacle 
when he reached the sinking ship was "awful," and the 

1 02 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

word is the only one that could have been used to 
describe it. 

Thomas, the third hand of the Mandalay, had mean- 
while his share of excitement. He had gone up into the 
rigging to get a better look at the warships, when 
suddenly shot began to fly thick about him, and live 
shells burst in the air above his head. He seems to have 
remained on the watch somewhere all through the firing, 
which, as all the witnesses agreed, went on for about 
twenty minutes. At length a white signal followed 
closely by a red was given by the Russians, and the 
cannonading stopped as suddenly as it had begun. 

A strange part of the story remains to be told. After 
this extraordinary and deadly attack, during which from 
two to three hundred shot and shell were fired, the war- 
ships steamed away after the first portion of the fleet, in 
the direction of the Channel, without sending a single 
boat to help the injured, or making a word of inquiry as 
to the effect of the action. As one of the Hull men 
declared, "they went off* without in the least troubling 
themselves about the damage." Nor was this all. It 
came out subsequently that the Russians left behind one 
of their ships, to keep an eye on the fishing fleet, and 
that this ship remained on the spot till six in the morn- 
ing. Yet not a move was made to render assistance to 
the Englishmen. "Drunk or scared" was the general 
comment among the fishermen, when, later, they learnt 
who were their assailants ; and the evidence afterwards 
forthcoming left no doubt as to which of the two it was. 
At daybreak that same morning the Russians were seen 
passing Dover. 

As soon as possible the injured from the various 
trawlers were taken on board the Hospital Mission ship 

103 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

Joseph and Sarah Miles. Dr. Anklesaria, the fleet 
surgeon, had already been over to the Crane to render 
what help he could, and he declared that he had never 
witnessed such a "gory sight" as he did there. "Two 
men lay on the deck with their heads nearly blown to 
pieces. In the cabin the scene was more heartrending 
still, when I saw six men stretched about anyhow, bleed- 
ing, and groaning with the agony of their wounds. With 
all these wounded men on board, our floating hospital 
looked like a veritable battlefield. Indeed, it presented a 
most pathetic sight. It kept me busy with knife and 
needle the whole day."' 1 The total number of the injured 
was fifteen or sixteen. 

Rarely has the port of Hull been more excited than it 
was next day, when the Moulmein and the Mino arrived 
there badly damaged, flags flying at half-mast, and two 
dead and mutilated bodies on board. The news soon 
spread, and in a short time a great crowd had gathered. 
The tale the fishers told was one that in itself could 
scarce have commanded belief. But here were the sad 
proofs of its truth, the headless corpses, the shattered 
trawlers, the sixteen holes in the Mino, the bits of 
shrapnel and other grim reminders of the attack which 
some of the men had brought. The indignation was 
naturally intense, and though no wild language was 
indulged in, there was a unanimous demand for full 
satisfaction for the outrage. 

The skippers of the Moulmein and the Mino, with 
others, were at once summoned to London to tell their 
story to the authorities at the Foreign Office. The King 
promptly sent a gracious message of sympathy to the 
friends of the killed and wounded, and another of an 
official nature to the Russian Government, the exact 

104 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGEKBANK 

import of the latter communication being unknown to 
the general public, of course. Our own Government 
took up the matter at once, and with energy. They had 
photographs taken of the deceased, just as they were. 
The pictures showed knives and pieces of fish still in the 
hands of the poor fellows, proof positive to all men that 
the fishers had been quietly pursuing their ordinary 
occupation at the moment the firing had opened upon 
them. 

The news quickly ran all over Europe and America, 
and every newspaper commented upon it. The con- 
demnation of the warship crews was universal. But the 
indignation was mingled with astonishment that the 
responsible authorities could in our day have made so 
astounding and deplorable a blunder. The whole thing 
seemed inexplicable, in fact, in this enlightened twen- 
tieth century, and on a sea that was perfectly known, or 
should have been known, to every European mariner. 
Russia herself presently sent a message to the effect that 
compensation would be made, but our country at large 
was not at all disposed to be satisfied with that alone. 
How for a short time it seemed possible that grave com- 
plications might arise out of this sad incident, and how 
the matter was finally settled, it is not the business of 
this chapter to tell. 

Thus far we have considered only the English version 
of the story. But it is confirmed in a striking manner by 
the entries in the diary made at the time by the Russian 
Engineer-in- Chief. We may venture to quote a few 
sentences from the book already mentioned, From Libau 
to Tsushima. The Engineer says : " About 1 a.m. they 
sounded off quarters, having seen ships ahead. They 
let the ships get nearer, and then there began . . . 

105 



A SCENE ON THE DOGGERBANK 

" What it was words fail to describe ! All the ships of 
our division were ablaze. The noise of the firing was 
incessant. The searchlights were turned on. I was on 
the after bridge, and was positively blinded and deafened 
by the firing. I put my hands to my ears and bolted 
below. The rest I watched from the spardeck, out of 
the accommodation-ladder port. 

"A small steamer was rolling helplessly on the sea. 
One funnel, a bridge, and the red and black paint on her 
side were clearly visible. I saw no one on deck — they 
had probably hidden themselves below in terror. First 
one, then another projectile from our ship struck this 
unfortunate steamer. I saw there was an explosion. The 
order to cease firing was given, but the other ships con- 
tinued to fire and no doubt sank the steamer. A second 
and third steamer, not having any one on deck, rolled 
helplessly in the same fashion. . . . 

" Imagine the feelings of the people in these ships ! 
They were, no doubt, fishermen. Now there will be a 
universal scandal."" 

But the diarist goes on to add that the fishermen had 
only themselves to blame ! They knew the Russian fleet 
was coming, and they should have got out of the way. 
The Engineer-in-Chief forgot, to say nothing more, that 
his warships were a good forty miles out of the course 
they should have taken ! 



106 



CHAPTER IX 
THE WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

Two East Indiamen, a contrast — The Halsewell — A fine ship— A gale 
in the Channel — On a lee shore— Five feet of water in the hold — 
Fall of the mainmast — Driving fast on a rock-bound coast — Ship 
strikes— An affrighted party in the round-house — Men leap 
over the side— Attempts to get a spar to the cliff— Brave 
attempt by the first mate — First mate slips into sea — Hurled into 
a cavern — Seized by unseen hands — Escape on a hen-coop — The 
final catastrophe — A night in a miserable cave — A perilous climb — 
Rescue by quarrymen — The rescued. 

IN another chapter is recorded the loss of a worn-out 
and unseaworthy vessel which had formerly been an 
East Indiaman ; in the present chapter the story is to 
be told of the wreck of one of the finest ships of her day 
owned by the Company. The Melville Castle, rechristened 
by her Dutch buyers the Vryheid, was a veritable " coffin 
ship," a mass of rotten timbers painted to look like new ; 
was ill-found, badly equipped, indifferently manned ; was, 
in short, a case as glaring as it was deplorable of a reck- 
less or penny-wise-pound-foolish policy on the part of the 
Amsterdam company who had bought her. The Halse- 
well, East Indiaman, of which we are now to speak, was 
the exact reverse of all this. She was one of the finest 
vessels afloat, in a condition of perfect repair, excellently 
equipped, and officered by some of the most skilful and 
gallant seamen of their day. Nothing had been neglected 
that money or skill could suggest or provide. Yet she, 

107 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

too, was fated to be lost on her outward voyage, and 
within sight of our own shores. 

It was on New Year's Day, 1786, when the Halsewell 
left the Thames, and sailed through the Downs on her 
way to the East. She was of about 750 tons burden, 
and was captained by Richard Pierce, while others of her 
officers were Mr. Meriton, Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Brimer, 
splendid fellows all. The ship carried out to India a 
number of soldiers, for the Company's service it need 
hardly be explained, for every one is aware how "John 
Company " ruled in his Eastern preserve till the Honour- 
able East India Company was superseded in its ruling 
functions by the British Government itself. There were 
about 250 souls on board altogether, including two 
daughters and two nieces of the commander, as well as 
three other ladies. 

Passengers and crew sailed under the best of auspices ; 
they had a beautiful and well-found ship, an ample crew 
splendidly officered ; in some cases children were with 
parents, husbands with wives, relatives with relatives. 
Here was a young girl, her education in England finished, 
joyfully returning to her father and mother out in India ; 
there was a successful merchant voyaging to the East just 
once more to settle his business affairs and to gather the 
last of the fruits of his enterprise and industry. As for 
the soldiers, were they not bound for a land where promo- 
tions, rewards, honours were to be earned ? One officer, 
at least, was newly married. Many a soul there was full 
of high hopes. 

The Channel had hardly been entered before a strong 
east wind began to blow, and this, veering to the south, 
soon increased in force. By January 3rd it had grown to 
the proportions of a heavy gale, and the strength of the 

108 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

storm still increasing, Captain Pierce began to be a little 
anxious. Here he was sailing, as he must do for a con- 
siderable time, along a lee shore and a dangerous coast. 
To keep off this shore was the all-important point, and 
it was only to be done by crowding on a quantity of sail. 
The Halsewell laboured heavily, the seas sweeping her 
decks every minute. Fearing that she must have shipped 
a good deal of water, the commander had the well 
sounded, and to his dismay found five feet of water in 
the hold. The pumps were immediately manned and 
vigorously worked, and at the same time an attempt was 
made to furl the mainsail and the maintop-sail. In spite 
of every effort, however, this could not be done. 

For the next two days passengers and crew spent a 
miserable time. Without cessation the hurricane raged, 
though at times its force lessened perceptibly, yet only 
to break out again with greater violence than before. 
Matters went from bad to worse. Seven feet of water 
were reported in the hold, and notwithstanding constant 
labour at the pumps, the depth was increasing, the men 
being unable to cope with it. The captain ordered the 
mizenmast to be cut away, but this not giving the advan- 
tage expected, he proceeded to remove the mainmast also. 
This, it need hardly be said, was a most hazardous opera- 
tion in such a tempest ; but the vessel was in the utmost 
danger, and the task must be undertaken. Unfortunately, 
in its fall the mast carried away five men, one the cox- 
swain, and these unhappy fellows were drowned in the 
sight of their comrades, who were utterly unable to 
render them any aid. These were the first deaths, and 
the moral effect on the rest was disheartening in the 
extreme. However, the ship's head was now got round, 
a thing that had been impossible while the masts stood, 

109 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

and the vessel ran before the wind. Not only was the 
commander enabled to keep his ship off the shore more 
easily, but the men at the pumps found themselves 
masters of the water in the hold. 

A jury mainmast was now rigged up, and then a jury 
mizen, and all on board began to hope that the worst 
was past. Their hopes were destined to be dashed almost 
at once. Suddenly the foretop-mast snapped under the 
force of the tempest, and fell with a crash, tearing the 
sail to rags. Thus matters stood when the night came 
on. Next morning both St. Alban's Head and Portland 
Bill were perceived, and these at no great distance away. 
The coast was a dangerous one. The bower anchor was 
thrown out ; it dragged at first and then for a time held. 
For a couple of hours the Halseivell rode the storm, and 
another night came down upon the now terrified com- 
pany. Their terror was not without justification. They 
were close to a rock-bound coast, on which they were fast 
driving, through a sea that was lashed into frenzy by the 
howling and shrieking tempest. To have launched a 
boat would have been madness; the craft would have 
been immediately hurled with overpowering force on the 
iron cliffs that reared their heads aloft. To escape from 
the ship was impossible, to remain in it was almost 
equally fatal. Despair by this time had entered the 
breasts of all save the boldest spirits. 

Captain Pierce now called up his chief mate, Mr. 
Meriton, for a consultation as to the best course to 
pursue. The skipper, poor fellow, was a thousand times 
more anxious on his daughters 1 account than his own. 
Any course that gave promise of saving them he would 
welcome. Meriton gave a candid answer to the captain's 
question, a hard thing to do under circumstances so 

no 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

appalling, but the right thing to be done by an officer as 
honourable as he was skilful and considerate. 

" Is there any way, can you devise any means whatever, 
of saving my two poor girls ? " Captain Pierce inquired 
with bursting heart, 

" None, I fear ; none ! We can but wait till morning 
light and see if any way offers itself then. 1 ' 

Till morning ! The poor father clasped his hands in 
despair. The time was two o'clock on a wild January 
morning. Daybreak was still five hours or more away, 
and all the time the vessel was driving fast and helplessly 
upon the rocky cliffs of the Isle of Purbeck ! 

Soon the Halsewell struck, and that so suddenly and 
with such violence as to throw down every soul standing 
at the time, some being severely bruised. The crash was 
awful, and the shrieks of the affrighted women and the 
hoarse cries of the men almost drowned the howling of 
the storm winds and the thunder of the waves that lashed 
the rocks. It was very dark, yet not so dark but that 
the people on board could make out, with horror-stricken 
eyes, the iron and perpendicular cliffs that loomed dimly 
before them, and towered up far above their heads, till 
they seemed to be lost in and confounded with the general 
blackness on high. 

The portion of the story that is now to be told is 
harrowing to the last degree, as what terrible story of 
shipwreck is not ! But it is relieved by examples of 
bravery, of endurance, of unselfishness, as bright as any 
in the annals of seafaring. Only one small speck dims 
the splendour of the record. For a little while some of 
the sailors had skulked, a man here and there refusing to 
do his duty at the pumps. But the fearful shock with 
which the vessel struck the rocks brought all hands to 

in 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

their senses, and from that time they endeavoured man- 
fully to second the efforts of their officers. The men 
swarmed on deck, to find the ship beating violently 
against the rocks, each crash seeming only too surely the 
last, for she must inevitably be dashed to pieces and sink 
a mass of wreckage into the surging waves. It was too 
late to be of help now, and presently the Halsewell bulged 
out and settled down, her broadside to the lofty cliff face. 

Mr. Meriton was among his men, and by his advice 
they congregated at the low side of the vessel, towards 
the shore, ready to take any opportunity, however full of 
risk, that might occur of getting upon the rocks. Huddled 
there, their eyes trying in vain to see something of the 
sheer black cliffs that frowned so close, and were yet so 
hard to reach, the men were left for a while by the gallant 
mate. 

This devoted fellow made his way as best he could in 
the shrieking blast and the sweeping waves to the round- 
house, where were gathered about fifty people, including 
the ladies, the passengers, the commander, and several 
other officers. Meriton found the men with splendid 
courage and unselfishness trying to comfort and to cheer 
the ladies, disregarding their own extreme danger. The 
captain sat with his two girls, one on either side and 
pressed close to his breast, endeavouring to put heart 
into them, even when he saw not a ray of hope. Meriton 
lit all the candles and lanterns he could lay hands on, 
and bestirred himself to minister to the ladies. He found 
that they were suffering from thirst ; they were, in fact, 
parched with much weeping. Suddenly remembering 
where there were some oranges on board, he went off in 
search of them, in spite of the fearful risk he ran, and in 
spite of the cries and protests of the rest. Good fortune 

112 



WRECK OF AN EAST 1NDIAMAN 

attended his energy and pluck, and he soon returned with 
the fruit and prevailed on the unhappy women to allay 
their thirst with them. 

But the second officer could not be content to remain 
in the round-house. While he had been fetching the 
oranges he had made a terrifying discovery. He found 
that the Halsewell had broken in two amidships. The 
fore part had been swung by the waves a little farther 
away from the shore, and lay at an angle to the after 
portion. Accordingly Meriton rushed back to the men, 
whom he now found swarming in numbers over the lower 
side of the vessel, frantically endeavouring to reach the 
black mass of cliff which they could faintly discern a few 
yards away. It was truly a leap in the dark for those 
luckless soldiers and sailors, and many a man sprang to 
his death, as the ever-recurring shrieks only too surely 
told. How many were drowned, how many were dashed 
to pieces on the jagged rocks, how many managed to 
cling to the sides, cannot be known. But Mr. Meriton 
was determined, if possible, to find a safer way to shore 
for the poor fellows. 

He first thought of the flagstaff, and the pole was laid 
from the ship's side, in the hope that it would reach to 
the face of the cliff. It fell short. Undeterred, the 
mate seized a lantern and began a search for something 
longer. He found a spar, and with a will the men helped 
to lay this across. To their joy they found, or believed 
they found, that it rested on the rocks, but it was too 
dark to see whether this were actually the case. Allow- 
ing none but himself to risk his life, the heroic Meriton 
crept out into darkness, clinging desperately to the spar 
along which he crawled, the boiling sea below him. It 
was a moment of awful suspense. Suddenly a startled 
h 113 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

cry rang out, and the men still on board knew that the 
gallant officer had come unexpectedly to the end of the 
spar and had slipped off into the raging waves. They 
knew nothing as to his subsequent struggles, and feared 
the worst for him. As a matter of fact, however, the 
man was battling for dear life. Hurled hither and 
thither, tossed upon this rock and upon that, Meriton 
was soon a mass of bruises. Still he fought gallantly on, 
every moment growing more and more exhausted. Then 
all at once, just as he was lapsing into unconsciousness, he 
was carried by the waves into some great hollow at the 
foot of the cliffs. He could feel that he was being flung 
into a cavern, and the next instant he was thrown with 
violence against the farther wall of it. The recoil of the 
waves was about to suck him back to despair and to 
death — for he was now entirely powerless to help himself, 
though he had laid hold for an instant on a bit of pro- 
jecting rock — when he felt himself grasped by a hand in 
the darkness. Whose hand it was in that dark surge- 
beaten cave he could not know, but taking heart again, the 
mate renewed his struggles, and at length found himself 
seated on a rough ledge just out of reach of the waves. 

Meanwhile those in the round-house had become in- 
tensely alarmed by the long absence of Mr. Meriton, and 
Mr. Rogers, the third officer, volunteered to go in search 
of him, an attempt the rest would not hear of. But pre- 
sently Captain Pierce himself, lantern in hand, accom- 
panied Rogers to the ship's side. The fitful glare served 
only to show the black cliff towering far above them, and 
without an inch of discernible foothold. Of the yawning 
cave just below they saw nothing, and of course suspected 
nothing. The commander did not need his mate's sorrow- 
ful assurance that there was absolutely nothing to be 

114 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

done on behalf of the ladies, and he returned to the 
round-house hopeless but resigned, determined to hold 
his children enfolded in his arms till the last and perish 
with them. All the while he manfully endeavoured to 
keep back his tears, so that the sight of them should not 
distress still more his unhappy girls. A braver and more 
loving father never lived. Who can picture that scene in 
the round-house, as parent and child, hand clasped in 
hand, and surrounded by shrieking and despairing men 
and women, sat to await the inevitable awful end ? Every 
few minutes there was a louder crash, as some portion of 
the wreck parted from the rest, each catastrophe accom- 
panied by agonised cries from those who believed the 
moment to be their last. 

Alarmed by the violent movements of that part of the 
vessel, Mr. Rogers, with another officer or two, ran to the 
poop. Scarcely had they gained it when an appalling 
crash was heard, and the screams of the ladies told that 
the round-house had given way, and that the water had 
reached them. The men on the poop could do nothing 
for the poor wretches, however, and Rogers and his friend 
and fellow-officer Brimer hastily seized a hencoop as an 
enormous wave bore down upon them. With one sweep 
every man in the poop was flung into the sea, all to 
perish, save the two who had grasped the coop. Like 
straws Rogers and Brimer were hurled far into the 
cavern, of whose existence they had previously known 
nothing whatever. They were terribly bruised, and 
narrowly escaped instant destruction on the jagged edges 
of the rocks. Like Mr. Meriton, however, they were 
seized by unseen hands, and found themselves seated, 
with a number of others. Soon, to their exceeding joy, 
they heard the voice of their comrade and friend, who 

ii5 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

was some twenty men away from them, but on the same 
precarious ledge. 

A deplorable situation truly was it for them all, even 
although they had gained a spot for a time out of the 
reach of the waves. They were drenched, shivering with 
cold, in the darkness, and feared to move an inch lest they 
should fall to their destruction ! And it was only low 
tide, too ! What when the flood came again ? Maddened 
by the thought of what would then be their fate, some of 
the poor fellows attempted to reach a higher and safer 
position along the walls of the cave. Hardly any suc- 
ceeded in this ; one by one they dropped with piercing 
cries into the horrible unseen breakers below. Their 
miserable companions could only cling more desperately 
than ever to their little shelf, putting off to the latest 
moment possible the dreadful end which alone they could 
expect. A portion of the ship was faintly discernible, 
even from the rear of the cavern, and the men, their 
thoughts on those who had been in the round-house, fer- 
vently trusted that it would hold together at least till 
morning light, when it might be possible to do some- 
thing to save the ladies. Every gallant fellow's heart 
was torn by the thought of what he knew the weak and 
helpless women must be enduring of anguish both bodily 
and mental. Meriton and Brimer feared the very worst, 
and none can wonder at it. 

" Alas! too soon were their apprehensions realised ! A 
few minutes after Mr. Rogers had gained the rock, a 
general shriek, in which the voice of female distress was 
distinguishable, announced the dreadful catastrophe ! In 
a few moments all was hushed, except the warring winds 
and the dashing waves. The wreck was overwhelmed in 
the bosom of the deep, and not an atom of it was ever 

116 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

discovered. Thus perished the Halsewell, and with her, 
worth, honour, skill, beauty, and accomplishments." How 
dreadful all this must have been to the remnant still 
clinging to the sides of the black cavern none can realise, 
save the very few who have gone through a like experi- 
ence and lived. The thought of the gallant mariner 
father clasping his children to his bosom to the last must 
have been uppermost in Meriton's mind. 

With wearying, prostrating tardiness did the day break 
on that bleak and tempestuous January morning. The 
first streaks served to reveal only more clearly the terrible 
situation of those on the rocky ledges. The cavern was 
found to be fairly lofty, and of about the same length as 
the ship had been. The Halsewell had, as a matter of 
fact, been driven alongside and exactly opposite this great 
hollow. To get out of this gloomy and dangerous cave 
was almost impossible. There was indeed a possible way, 
but it was one to shudder at. A ledge only a few inches 
wide straggled round the corner of the cavern, and then, 
on the bare face of the cliff, ran a narrow and dangerous 
track to the summit, some two hundred feet above. Yet 
terrible as the aspect was, there were many of the men 
ready to make the attempt to ascend. 

Indeed, they saw no other chance of reaching safety. 
For some time many of the unfortunate fellows had been 
murmuring because no answer had come to the guns that 
had been fired the night before. It was clear to all, how- 
ever, that the signals had not been heard by the inhabi- 
tants of the district. And if any person should come this 
morning to the edge of the cliff above, what could he see ? 
Certainly not the ship, of which not a spar remained. 
Neither could he get a sight of the survivors in their 
cavern. Even if the miserable plight of the sailors was 

117 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

known to those on shore, what boat could come and fetch 
them away in such a raging sea and from those fatal 
rocks ? 

So some of the men started on their perilous journey 
along the narrow ledge. Foot by foot they advanced, 
clinging with benumbed hands to the face of the cliff, 
shivering in every portion of their bodies, buffeted by the 
howling winds, yet pushing desperately onward and up- 
ward. Now and then came a cry, as some poor wretch, 
unable longer to retain his hold, fell down the jagged 
rocks, to drop bruised and torn headlong into the boiling 
waves far below, his fate a horror to his trembling brethren. 
It was a pitiful sight. 

At length two men, stronger and more fortunate than 
the rest, clambered in the last stage of exhaustion out on 
the top. They lost no time in running to the nearest 
house, that of the steward to the famous Purbeck marble 
quarries. Instantly that gentleman collected his quarry- 
men and hastened to the edge of the cliff. They arrived 
at an extraordinarily critical and opportune moment, and 
by their promptitude saved a most valuable life — that of 
the heroic second officer, Mr. Meriton. It was on this 
wise. When the quarrymen reached the edge, they 
observed one of the climbers nearing the top, and without 
a second's hesitation they dropped a rope down to him. 
Strange to relate, as the rope descended, the piece of 
stone on which the climber placed his foot gave way 
under him. With a despairing shout the man flung his 
hands towards the rope as he was falling, and by marvel- 
lous good fortune caught it. He managed to hold on till 
he was drawn up to the top, and then immediately fell 
fainting to the ground. 

The workmen now began their operations systematically 

118 




A Narrow Escape 

Just as the climber neared the top of the cliff the rock gave way ; in despair he flung 
out his arms and fortunately grasped the rope. 



WRECK OF AN EAST INDIAMAN 

and skilfully, fixing crowbars firmly in the ground to 
hold a strong rope. This was then paid out till it dangled 
in front of the cavern two hundred feet below. Swayed by 
the wind, the end now and then blew into the cave, to be 
seized by one or other of the men cowering there. The 
man would then fasten himself more or less securely to 
the cord, give the signal, and let himself be drawn up the 
face of the cliff. ' Now a fortunate one would arrive there 
in safety, though bruised and cut by the sharp rocks ; 
now another, ill-secured, or unable to retain his hold, 
would slip from the rope and fall helplessly into the 
heaving waves far below. Of these unfortunate ones was 
Mr. Brimer, the brave officer ; his case was a peculiarly 
sad one, for he had been married only nine days before. 

All day the rescue went on, a tedious business, till, 
when night fell once more, there was but one man left. 
He, a soldier, spent a second night in that horrible cave, 
alone, in peril, and torn by anguish of soul, to be rescued, 
happily, on the following morning. 

When all the survivors had assembled at the house of 
the hospitable steward, they were found to number seventy- 
four, out of an original company of two hundred and fifty 
souls. One or two, however, died of exhaustion after 
their rescue. 

In some respects the wreck of the Halseivell stands out 
conspicuous even among the long fearful records of peril 
and loss at sea, and in nothing more conspicuously than in 
the singular courage, devotion, and disregard of self dis- 
played by her gallant officers. 



119 



CHAPTER X 
ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

Buccaneers, pirates, filibusters— The buccaneers become pirates — 
Bartholomew Roberts, one of the last of the buccaneer-pirates — 
Captured by pirates — Chosen captain — Revenges the death of his 
predecessor— Attack on a fort — A slack time — Attacks forty-two 
trading ships and a man-of-war— Cowardice of the Portuguese — A 
rich prize — Escape from a Martinique sloop — The biter bitten — 
Judge and jury on board the pirate — A shipload of negroes burnt 
alive — Chased by the cruiser Sivallow— Companion ship captured — 
Roberts attacked by the Swallow — Death of Roberts — The Royal 
Fortune taken, and pirate crew hanged — End of the gang — A 
magnificent scoundrel. 

BUCCANEER, pirate, filibuster, are words often 
used indifferently, as if they stood for exactly the 
same thing. Strictly speaking, however, the terms 
are not synonymous, as a little acquaintance with history 
will show. The buccaneers were partly soldiers, partly 
sailors, who, in the first instance, and for several genera- 
tions, infested the Spanish Main and raided the Spanish 
colonies. During the long period when Spain was mistress 
of the sea, her ships and her lands were considered fair 
game for her enemies, of whom the English were the 
chief. Some of our old sea-dogs were true buccaneers ; 
more, they were the most notable of the tribe of whom 
we have any record. The rugged Hawkins and the 
mighty Drake were, in fact, buccaneer kings, whose 
prowess was never quite equalled by that of any of the 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

long list of their successors and imitators, though this list 
includes the names of the notorious Morgan, and Black- 
beard, and Paul Jones. 

Every one knows that these roving desperadoes had 
their rules, which were rigidly and indeed brutally en- 
forced, and that the head seamen among them were called 
lords. But there came a time when the march of political 
events, as well as the fiendish cruelty to which some of 
the buccaneers descended, brought about the extinction 
of the class, making planters of some of them, and pirates 
of others. A Royal Proclamation in 1690 offered pardon 
to all buccaneers who should surrender, and the Peace of 
Ryswick, eight years later, put an end for a time to the 
European wars, so that there was no longer an excuse for 
harrying the Spanish commerce and possessions. So the 
buccaneer turned pirate, that is, he confined his opera- 
tions mainly to the sea henceforth, and no longer specially 
singled out Spaniards for his prey. The French jlibustier, 
in English filibuster, was half buccaneer, half pirate, and 
kept himself principally to the West Indies. 

One of the most remarkable of the later buccaneer- 
pirates, that is to say, of those who flourished after the 
opening of the eighteenth century, was Captain Bartholo- 
mew Roberts, whose accession to the rank was both 
sudden and curious. He was a seaman who was cap- 
tured by a noted sea-rover of the dav, Howel Davis. 
Some six weeks later, Davis was unlucky enough to fall 
into a trap set for him by the Dutch governor of a 
fort on the African coast, and was killed. It speaks 
volumes for the qualities of Roberts the prisoner, when 
the lords of the_ pirate ship unanimously elected him 
their commander, though their acquaintance with him 
ran back only a few weeks. Roberts must have been no 

121 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

little taken aback by this dazzling offer, but he did not 
decline it, and replied to this effect, " Since I have dipped 
my hands in muddy water " — he had already assisted the 
pirates as a pressed man — " and must needs be a pirate, 
I would rather be commander than a mere seaman." And 
from that day Captain Roberts became a famous pirate 
leader, a terror to merchants and peaceable mariners, his 
life crowded with remarkable feats and thrilling adven- 
tures, to tell the half of which would require a volume to 
itself. 

Roberts lost no time in showing his mettle. He at 
once ordered an attack on the Dutch fort, to avenge the 
death of his predecessor Davis, who had been a great 
favourite with his men. The fort was on a steep hill, 
and moreover was protected by a thick wood, which 
furnished excellent cover for its defenders. Nothing 
daunted, Roberts landed thirty men, and dashing up the 
hill drove out the garrison at the point of the sword, 
spiking the guns. He then re-embarked, and turned his 
attention to the shipping. He speedily captured those 
he found anchored under the fort, and then blazed away 
at the houses on the harbour. Night came on, but the 
pirate commander proceeded to fire a couple of his 
captures, and, by the light of the burning ships, coolly 
threaded his way out of the dangerous shoals and made 
good his escape. He and his men got off scot-free, 
mightily elated at the success that had attended their 
audacious adventure. 

A dull time of it the pirates had for the next two 
months, for not a single prize vessel fell into their hands 
all that time. It is more than probable that word had 
been passed among the trading vessels frequenting that 
coast to keep a sharp look-out for the bold Roberts. Be 

122 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

that as it may, the pirates were disgusted, and made 
their way across the Atlantic to the West Indies. Here 
their luck seemed to turn. Off the bay of Todos Santos 
they saw a sight that made their mouths water. There 
rode at anchor no fewer than forty-two Portuguese 
merchantmen, all laden for the voyage to Lisbon, and 
awaiting only the two men-of-war that were to act as 
convoy. One of these had arrived and was in the midst 
of the trading fleet, the other was hourly expected. One 
might have supposed that the pirates would have sheered 
off at once when confronted with so formidable a fleet. 
But that was not Roberts's way. He crept in among the 
merchantmen, in the guise of an innocent trader like 
themselves, with only a few men visible, the rest being 
carefully hidden away in the hold. Coming alongside a 
fine Portuguese vessel, the pirate captain suddenly showed 
his teeth, boarding the trader with drawn cutlass, and 
threatening to cut the throat of every man in her if the 
skipper did not immediately point out the richest prize 
of the merchant fleet. He further told the Portuguese 
crew that he and his comrades were gentlemen of fortune, 
a term to strike terror into the hearts of mariners in those 
days. The skipper, trembling in every limb, indicated a 
rich vessel, but hinted that she mounted forty guns and 
earned a crew of a hundred and fifty men, an armament 
and a company which Roberts himself could by no means 
boast. 

" Pish ! M cried the pirate commander contemptuously. 
" They are only Portuguese ! " and at once he bore down 
upon the coveted prize. He had imagined the Portuguese 
would be unaware of the character of his ship, but he 
quickly perceived his mistake, and saw that the captain 
was preparing a hot reception for him. Roberts took the 

12.3 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

initiative, and poured in a broadside. Then darting 
alongside in the confusion caused he boarded with a 
mighty shout. A fierce encounter took place, and the 
Portuguese fell fast, while two of the pirate gang were 
also killed. It was hot work, but it did not last long. 
The merchantman flew signals of distress and fired guns 
to attract the attention of the warship. On this Roberts 
clapped on all sail and endeavoured to get his prize away 
into the more open sea, but she proved to be a slow sailer, 
and before long the seventy-gun convoy overhauled him. 
Here was the pirate commander confronted with a power- 
ful man-of-war carrying hundreds of men. Strange to say, 
and it must have appeared surprising indeed to Roberts, 
the big ship declined the contest, the captain being fear- 
ful of attacking till his consort should arrive ! This, too, 
in the neighbourhood of a large fleet of Portuguese ships, 
many of them well armed ! 

So Roberts sailed away in triumph to the Devil's 
Islands, in the Surinam River, to dispose of his capture, 
and to enjoy a carouse after his labours. The prize 
proved to be a specially valuable one, " laden with sugar, 
skins, tobacco, and four thousand moidores, besides many 
gold chains and much jewellery.' 1 That one pirate ship, 
and that a vessel of moderate size only, could single out 
the richest of a fleet of forty merchantmen, could capture 
it, though it was well armed, and then carry it off in 
triumph, in the very presence of a formidable line-of- 
battleship, seems almost marvellous. But such was the 
terror inspired by the pirate chiefs in those times. 

Narrowly escaping capture by a Martinique sloop, one 
of the sea-police vessels of those parts, Roberts started 
for Newfoundland. But presently spying in a harbour at 
the Guadanillas a company of over twenty sail, he im- 

124 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

mediately swept down into the midst of them, boldly 
flying his black flag, and sounding drum and trumpet. 
As at Todos Santos, so here, the whole of the crews were 
terrified at the sight of him. Every man, in fact, fled to 
the shore, leaving the ships deserted. Roberts had things 
all his own way, of course, and plundered and burnt to 
his heart's content, even following the runaways to the 
shore, where he chased and did further pillaging. One 
of the finds in the harbour was much to his liking, a 
Bristol vessel with sixteen guns. With this he at once 
gave chase to a number of French ships not far away. 
No fewer than nine of these he destroyed, but preserved 
one for himself, a fine barque mounting six-and-twenty 
guns. One of the ships taken was from London and was 
supposed to be particularly rich. Determined to drag 
from them all their wealth, the pirate captain tortured the 
passengers and threatened them with death if they did 
not bring forth their money. A characteristic scene was 
witnessed on board this vessel, the Samuel. " His men 
tore up the hatches, and entering the hold with axes and 
swords, cut and ripped open the bales and boxes. Every- 
thing portable they seized ; the rest they threw overboard, 
amidst curses and discharges of guns and pistols. They 
carried off £9000 worth of goods, the sails, guns, and 
powder." When the skipper offered the pirates the 
King's pardon if they would leave his vessel unmolested, 
they scorned the offer, saying they would accept of no act 
of grace, and invoking horrible maledictions on the head 
of his Majesty. So, loaded with money and goods, and 
carrying with them many a pressed man from the Samuel, 
the undaunted Captain Roberts and his crew sailed away 
again. 

But life had its drawbacks for these lawless and reckless 

125 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

rovers. At times they suffered badly from thirst, and 
even from hunger, for riches quickly and easily got were 
as quickly disposed of. After a period of carousing and 
feasting, starvation would often stare them in the face ; 
and occasionally the biter himself got bitten. On one 
occasion when Roberts himself went ashore in a boat in 
search of water, his lieutenant, Kennedy, made off with 
the ship, leaving the commander impotently cursing and 
gesticulating and threatening on the strand. This Ken- 
nedy, be it said, was, after some years of rascality, caught, 
tried, and duly hanged. This was in 1721. Roberts 
managed to make his way to the West Indies again, on 
another of his vessels that came up, and here he had a 
brush with the authorities, barely escaping capture. The 
Governor of Barbados had sent a couple of vessels 
after him, and these, adopting tactics similar to those in 
use among the pirate brotherhood, went as merchant 
traders, a tempting bait to Roberts. The buccaneer com- 
mander at once attempted, in his usual fashion, to board, 
but soon found he had caught a Tartar. He was received 
by a big broadside and with exulting cheers from the 
throats of the men-of-war crews. Roberts finding him- 
self in a trap, clapped on all sail and fled. An exciting 
chase ensued, the King's men hanging on the skirts of the 
pirates, and pouring in a galling fire among them. In his 
desperation Roberts threw overboard everything that 
could be moved, and at last even his guns. At length he 
drew away a] little, and finally escaped. From that time 
he was filled with a bitter hate against all Barbados 
vessels, just as he had been in the case of Martinique 
ships. He even designed a new flag, representing himself 
as stamping on the skulls of a Barbadian and a Mar- 
tinique man, a foot on each. 

126 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

A curious scene deserves to be described : it was on the 
occasion of the trial of three deserters who had been 
chased and recaptured. A jury was chosen on the deck 
of the pirate ship, and a judge appointed. The latter 
sat and smoked, while the jurymen enjoyed a big bowl 
of punch. Sentence of death was passed on all the 
prisoners. Suddenly a juryman, a friend to one of the 
deserters, started up in a towering passion and swore that 
his crony should not die. " He is as good a man as the 
best of you ! " roared the objector, with many an oath, 
" and never turned his back on any man. But if he must 
die, I will die along with him. 1 '' So saying, the fellow 
whipped out a pair of pistols and covered two of the jury. 
This was a strong argument for the reconsideration of the 
sentence, so far as the particular deserter in question was 
concerned, and an acquittal was at once pronounced for 
him ! The two other culprits, having no blustering 
advocate on their side, were tied to the mast and shot 
without further ceremony. 

It would be impossible to recount the half of the 
adventures of this determined and unscrupulous pirate 
chief. Attacking and plundering, now a ship, now some 
fort or trading establishment on shore, ransacking, firing, 
wasting, murdering, Captain Roberts and his men flew 
from sea to sea, and from island to mainland. The 
company grew ever bolder, more lawless, more licentious, 
more cruel, till the name of the chief became a horror and 
a disgust to all honest men. The cup of their iniquities 
was full to overflowing. But one fiendish deed yet re- 
mained for them to do, the most atrocious of all Roberts's 
long career. He captured a slaver full of wretched 
negroes who were being carried to the American planta- 
tions. As usual, the pirates demanded ransom, but this 

127 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

the captain refused to pay. Roberts at once set fire to 
the vessel, paying no heed to the miserable slaves in the 
hold. The poor blacks were nearly all chained, and 
could only await with piteous shrieks the terrible death 
prepared for them. A few of the negroes managed to 
escape from the burning hold, and sprang overboard, but 
only to be devoured by the sharks that had crowded 
round the vessel, as if well aware of what was likely to 
happen. 

It was high time that somebody took energetic measures 
against such pests as these men, and a Government cruiser, 
the Sivallozv, was sent in search of the pirate commander. 
Roberts got wind of this, and kept out of sight for a 
time. But after a while the Szvallow came upon another 
of the ships, under the command of a brother Welshman. 
The crew, believing the cruiser to be a Portuguese sugar 
vessel, were in high glee, saying that they were very short 
of sugar for their punch. The Welshman bore down 
upon the supposed trader, when suddenly the warship 
threw up her ports and fired a broadside, bringing down 
the black flag. Not daunted the fellows hoisted their 
colours again, drew their cutlasses, and for two hours 
fought like furies. %± last the pirate's maintop came 
down with a crash, and the vessel struck. She had ten 
men killed and twice that number wounded, while the 
cruiser, astonishing to relate, had lost not a man. 

As the Swallow's boat was on its way to take possession 
of the capture, an explosion was heard, and it was found 
that some of the desperadoes had been trying to blow up 
their ship. The quantity of powder used, however, had 
been too little for the purpose. The pirate captain, the 
Welshman, was found with his leg shot off, but he refused 
all offers to attend to his wounds. The conversation that 

128 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

followed between the man-of-war officer in charge of the 
prize and a fellow he found on board the pirate was short 
and grim. 

" I presume you are the boatswain of this ship ? " said 
the officer. 

" Then you presume wrong," answered the other, " for 
I am boatswain of the Royal Fortune — Captain Roberts." 

" Then, Mr. Boatswain, you will be hanged." 

" That is as your Honour pleases," calmly replied the 
pirate, walking away. 

" Are all Roberts's crew as likely men as you ? " inquired 
the officer of the same man later on, admiring the rascal's 
fine physique. 

" There &/* a hundred and twenty of them, as clever 
fellows as ever trod shoe leather," the boatswain made 
answer. " And that's the naked truth," he added with a 
roar of laughter, showing his own bare feet. 

Some of the pirates in their rage refused all attention 
from the surgeon, and one fellow even tore away the 
bandages that had been put on him against his will. In 
his delirium this man raved about the " brave Roberts," 
and next day died through the mortification that had 
set in. 

The day following the capture of the subordinate ship, 
Roberts himself came up on board his Royal Fortune, 
bringing with him a rich prize. At first he took the 
Government cruiser to be a merchantman, but speedily 
finding how grievously mistaken he was, he prepared for a 
fight, the last time, as it afterwards proved, he was ever to 
clear his decks for action. " He appeared on deck dressed 
in crimson and damask," says a lively account of the 
scene, " with a red feather in his cocked hat, a gold chain 
and diamond cross round his neck, a sword in his hand, 
i 129 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

and two pairs of pistols hanging pirate-fashion from a silk 
sling over his shoulders. His orders were given in a loud 
voice with unhesitating boldness." Such fine birds were 
some of the buccaneer chieftains. 

All this finery and bravado, which had so often served 
the pirate well, were now of no avail. Roberts attempted 
to out-manceuvre the Szvallozv, but somehow his steering 
was not of his usual skilful order, and the warship over- 
hauled him. Just then the commander was struck by 
a grape-shot, which penetrated his throat. The notorious 
pirate leader, long the terror of the mercantile world, sat 
him quietly down on some gun-tackle close by, and 
breathed his last. The helmsman not far away ran up, 
and called upon his captain to stand up and fight it out 
like a man. He had not observed the tiny wound in the 
throat, and fancied that his chief, for once in his life, was 
showing the white feather. The pirate steersman wept 
bitterly when he found out his mistake, and others of the 
crew coming up, they picked up their dead commander 
and flung him overboard, with all his finery and his 
weapons, just as Roberts had always desired should be 
done if death overtook him in action. 

With the loss of their incomparable leader the pirates 
also lost heart, and they were compelled to surrender. A 
party of them, after their usual fashion, tried to blow up 
the vessel, but were stopped by their companions. The 
famous — or infamous — Royal Fortune* when taken, was 
found to have one hundred and fifty-seven men, forty guns, 
and more than two thousand pounds'* worth of gold dust on 
board. 

Terrible scenes took place among the pirate prisoners, 
most of whom were perfectly reckless, and only laughed at 
their impending fate. The majority of them were hanged, 

130 



ROBERTS THE BUCCANEER-PIRATE 

the greater part hardened and graceless to the last. With 
this victory for the authorities, the notorious Roberts 
gang was broken up, though this pirate chief was not 
quite the last of his tribe. Roberts was a thorough 
scoundrel, yet a magnificent scoundrel, and had he turned 
his talents as a seaman and a fighter into a lawful channel, 
England might now be ranking Captain Roberts among 
its most splendid admirals. 



131 



CHAPTER XI 

TWO THOUSAND MILES IN A 
PAPER CANOE. 

North American bays and estuaries— Mr. Bishop starts from Quebec 
in a canoe — How a paper boat is made — Weight fifty-eight pounds 
only — In Delaware Bay — Big rollers— Swamped, and upside down 
— Blindly swimming — A hard struggle — Boat follows — A cool 
change of clothes— Rough seas off the Virginian coast— A desolate 
and cheerless shore — Musk-rats and oyster-coons — The storm in 
Pamplico Sound — The yacht Julia — A wreck-strewn coast — 
Chased by porpoises— An alligator at close quarters — The Gulf 
of Mexico. 

AMONG sea adventures worth reading of, many have 
l\ taken place, not in the midst of great seas or 
"* oceans, but quite close to the shore ; often, indeed, 

in some gulf or other coast opening, which, if not exactly 
the "high seas," may truly be considered a portion of 
them. There is much in a name, and no doubt there are 
persons who suppose the Bay of Bengal or the Gulf of 
Mexico to be small things compared with the Irish Sea 
and the German Ocean ! And there are not a few of even 
better-educated folk who do not for a moment realise the 
size of some of the "inlets" of the world, those, for 
instance, on the coast of North America, the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence, Delaware and Chesapeake bays, and so on. 

These latter estuaries are mentioned advisedly, for the 
present chapter is to tell somewhat of a remarkable voyage 
made between twenty and thirty years ago by an American 

132 



IN A PAPER CANOE 

gentleman, Mr. Bishop, a singularly plucky and ad- 
venturous fellow who worked his way along the United 
States coast and waterways for a distance of over two 
thousand miles in a paper canoe ! When a mere lad of 
seventeen, he had distinguished himself by walking across 
the continent of South America, a distance of more than a 
thousand miles, including the crossing of the stupendous 
Andes range, and then writing a valuable book on his 
travels. Now, in 1874, he started to work his way in a 
canoe, from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico. 

For the first four hundred miles he rowed in a timber- 
built canoe, and had with him a companion assistant. 
But when he reached Troy — he had travelled thither by 
inland waterways — Mr. Bishop came across some remark- 
able paper boats built by Messrs. Waters there. He was 
soon satisfied of the excellence of these singular boats and 
discarded his old canoe. Dismissing his helper, he started 
on his journey again, alone, and in one of these frail 
skiffs. From that time, till he reached the coast of 
Florida, in the Mexican Gulf, this man of " snap," as he 
was called in some of the Southern States, " paddled his 
own canoe," as he puts it, and such a canoe ! To the very 
end of his voyage the people he met with marvelled — nay, 
were alarmed — that a man could set himself to traverse a 
couple of thousand miles of river, estuary, land-locked bay, 
marsh, roadstead, and open sea in a paper boat. 

Startling as may be the notion of using paper for the 
construction of such a thing as a boat, the ingenious 
American inventors had yet much to say for the material. 
Paper, or rather strong cardboard, will stand an amount 
of hammering and bending and general rough usage 
that would inevitably split and destroy wood of the 
same thickness, or even of the same weight. It is true 

133 



TWO THOUSAND MILES 

that wood will, as a rule, float for any length of time, 
while paper will become saturated and sink ; but if the 
latter be soaked in marine glue, it will be "equally as 
impervious to water as wood, and as buoyant, if of the 
same weight. 1 ' Paper can be bent or moulded to any 
shape whatever, while wood cannot, and it "neither 
swells, nor shrinks, nor cracks, hence it does not leak, 
is always ready for use, always serviceable." Finally, 
damage to a paper boat can easily be repaired by using 
strong paper covered with a coating of shellac, which can 
be put on with a hot iron. 

An exceedingly interesting account of the method of 
constructing these paper boats is given by Mr. Bishop, 
but it is too long to quote in full. The essential points, 
however, are these. First, an exact model of the in- 
tended craft is made in light wood, the keel and every 
part finished off as perfectly as in the ordinary boat. 
The model is then covered with a sheet of paper put on 
damp, laid smoothly, and fastened down till the sheet is 
dry. A second sheet is put on this, and cemented to it, 
and so on till the required thickness has been obtained. 
The whole is then taken to the drying-room, when, as the 
drying proceeds, it is found that all wrinkles disappear, 
and, when the mould is removed, an exact facsimile in 
paper is obtained, "exceedingly stiff, perfectly sym- 
metrical, and seamless." The boat is now subjected to 
the waterproof process, and a light inner wooden frame 
is added by the carpenter, this being necessary when the 
outer shell is of such a material as paper. The canoe is 
then varnished and finished in the usual way. In short, 
it is an ordinary boat with a paper skin instead of the 
regular wooden sheathing, and its strength is said to be 
remarkable. 

134 



IN A PAPER CANOE 

Of course there were plenty of croakers when Mr. 
Bishop began his long and adventurous voyage in this 
cockle-shell, which weighed no more than fifty-eight 
pounds when ready to receive her equipment and cargo. 
Notwithstanding all the shakings of the head and the 
predictions of failure and disaster, this American imitator 
of the European Macgregor, of Rob Roy fame — " the 
father of modern canoe travelling " — set forth in his paper 
skiflp, the Maria Theresa. She measured fourteen feet 
in length and twenty-eight inches in beam. Her depth 
was, at the bow twenty-three inches, amidships fourteen, 
and at the stern twenty inches. The thickness of her 
skin was but one-eighth of an inch. Mr. Bishop 
whimsically remarks that his boat, with himself and all 
his belongings in her, with provisions for a long voyage, 
and with all her own fittings, mast, and what not, 
weighed a good deal less than the three trunks a lady 
would take with her for a two or three weeks' visit to the 
seaside. 

Without following this hardy voyager through all the 
many miles of his cruise, we may join him here and there, 
and give some of the most exciting and interesting of his ex- 
periences. The earlier part of his adventurous voyage was 
marked by a mishap which bid fair to end disastrously, if 
not to himself, at any rate so far as a successful accomplish- 
ment of his cruise was concerned. He had just grounded 
on an oyster bed near the mouth of the great Delaware Bay. 
As the canoe rocked for several minutes in the breakers, 
he was in great trepidation lest the rough, hard shells 
might have done serious damage. To his surprise and 
delight, he found things much better than he had ex- 
pected. There were only a few scrapings and scratchings 
on the skin of the boat, and these he soon smoothed 

135 



TWO THOUSAND MILES 

over and repaired by the help of shellac and a hot 
iron. 

A strong wind and a rough sea presently made his work 
hard and not without risk, and for many miles he pulled 
wearily along, ever watchful lest a sudden squall or an 
awkward wave should swamp him. He had kept pretty 
close inshore. The mouth of the bay is not far short of 
twenty miles across, and the estuary is a good deal wider 
than that a few miles higher up. A person in the middle 
of it on that tempestuous day could have seen the land on 
neither side, while the heaving, tossing waves would have 
still more persuaded him into the belief that he was in 
mid-ocean. Wave after wave tossed the paper canoe 
towards the shore, and it was with the utmost difficulty 
the owner could keep her off the fishermen's stakes that 
lined it. 

At last there rolled up fair and square and without a 
crest a mighty wave, and bore down upon the voyager. 
For but a moment he caught sight of this huge mountain 
of water advancing, and he attempted to flee from it. In 
vain ; the next instant the wave fell upon him and his 
shell, engulfing them and sweeping the boat from stern 
to stem. Pouring through the opening between his body 
and the canvas cover, the sea filled the canoe, and she 
became waterlogged. Practically she was swamped, for 
nothing appeared above water but the highest points of 
the stem and the stern, and these only occasionally. It 
needed but another wave to complete the catastrophe. It 
came. Careering along as high as the rower's head and 
shoulders, in a second it " rolled both canoe and canoeist 
upside down." Here was a pretty pass for him ! He was 
half imprisoned in his raft, the canvas cover drawn about 
his w r aist ! If he could not speedily free himself he was a 

136 



IN A Pi\PER CANOE 

dead man. Luckily he contrived to kick himself clear of 
the deck-cover, and popped up from under his boat to the 
surface. But how about righting the craft ? Mr. Bishop 
amusingly tells us that he had once read the following 
directions from a book on canoeing : " When you capsize, 
first right the canoe, and get astride it over one end, 
keeping your legs in the water ; when you have crawled to 
the well or cock-pit, bale out the boat with your hat." 
Admirable instructions ; but, alas ! Mr. Bishop's canoe 
could not be righted. The cargo had settled on the 
canvas deck, as the boat floated bottom upwards, and the 
weight of such a ballast was too much for him. More- 
over, her sides were so smooth and slippery that he could 
not get a hold. To crown all, his hat was gone, and no 
baling would have been possible, even if he could have 
righted the skiff. So he struck out for the shore, a few 
hundred yards away. 

The distance was nothing in itself, but the canoeist 
had a very severe struggle. The water was brown with 
the quantity of suspended sand in it, and the sand got 
into his eyes and scratched his face as the waves dashed 
furiously about him. He was bruised and blinded, and 
every moment he was flung under the billows, so that it 
was with difficulty he could get even a breath of air. He 
could hear the thundering roar of the breakers ahead, 
but could see nothing, his eyes being blocked up with 
the sand ; he was swimming blindly, in fact. At such a 
time, to use his own words, you " strike out, fight as you 
never fought before, swallowing as little water as possible, 
and never relaxing an energy or yielding a hope." Man- 
fully struggling, at length he felt ground with his feet, and 
stood upright, to be knocked down the next instant by a 
long roller. Up he sprang again, and again was laid 

137 



TWO THOUSAND MILES 

prostrate, till, half swimming, half crawling, he pulled 
himself up out of the seething waves, where he stood for 
a little space watching the water drain in streams off his 
garments, and wondering where he should find a shelter 
on that lonely shore. 

He did not stand long, the keen winter blast instantly 
chilled him to the bone ; soon he must freeze to death 
if he could get no shelter or dry garments. But the 
canoe — should he abandon the gallant little craft ? Even 
while he was hastily considering the question he observed 
with joy the canoe dancing on the breakers a few yards 
away. He was as wet and cold as he could be, so he 
plunged in again, and, after a hard tussle, dragged the 
Maria Theresa to shore. A hasty search showed that 
the flannel suit he had in a waterproof bag was quite 
dry, and about the only thing that was. It was impera- 
tive that the change of garments should be made at once. 
But how ? The bitter Atlantic blasts blew through him, 
so to speak ; he was benumbed ; his arms and legs had 
no feeling in them. At this moment he remembered 
some very fine brandy a friend had given him at the 
start, with the remark, " It may save your life." Mr. 
Bishop was no dram drinker, but the pull he took at the 
spirits at once sent a glow through his body, and he was 
then able to do what he had found impossible before, to 
doff his sea-soaked apparel and don the dry. Thus 
revived he soon had a rousing fire of driftwood blazing — 
he had a waterproof case of matches in his pocket — 
whereat he dried his dripping garments. He had lately 
passed Murderkill Creek and was now camping on 
Slaughter Bay, strange names to a man who had just 
narrowly escaped death, as our plucky paper-canoeist 
had! 

138 



IN A PAPER CANOE 

Another mishap, though not so serious as the former, 
befell him later on. It was off the coast of Virginia, at 
Watchapreague Inlet. The tide was running with all the 
force of a rapid, and the puffs of wind tossed the billows 
about in the wildest fashion. " Waves washed over my 
canoe, but the gallant little craft after each rebuff rose like 
a bird to the surface of the water, answering the slightest 
touch of my oar better than the best-trained steed. After 
entering the south-side swash the wind struck me on the 
back, and seas came tumbling over and around the boat, 
fairly forcing me on to the beach. As we flew along the 
tumultuous waters made my head swim ; so, to prevent 
mental confusion, I kept my eyes only upon the oars, 
which, strange to say, never betrayed me into a false 
stroke." 

Suddenly a heavier blast than any that had yet come 
caught the canoe, and threw it against the sandy beach, 
which the voyager had not thought to be so near. The 
craft struck the sand with a violent jerk, and the canoeist 
leapt out as if shot, seizing his little skiff and pulling it 
away from the attack of the breakers. It is not to be 
wondered at when he tells us that he looked for a cosy 
hiding-place behind some pigmy sand dunes, and there 
watched the heaving and rolling seas till towards evening. 
He then lifted the canoe back into her own element, and 
tried his luck once more. For a few miles he paddled 
along the shore, till, when the darkening came — it was 
the last day in November — he found himself close to a 
marshy island, a dreary spot in a dreary and lonely region. 
Not a habitation or sign of man's occupation was to be 
seen anywhere, and the traveller had to make the best of 
a bad case. He stepped out, to sink up to his knees in 
mud, and carried his boat out of reach of the waves. 

139 



TWO THOUSAND MILES 

There was not a scrap of firewood to be found, and the 
place was marshy and cold ; so he squeezed himself into 
the hollow of his frail craft for the night, a rubber 
blanket covering the cockpit. Various animals came 
during the night to inspect the visitor's queer abode — 
mallards, musk-rats, and the oyster-eating coon, which no 
doubt sniffed his provisions. He had to rap sharply on 
the inside of his boat now and then to scare away the 
sharp-toothed little animals, which otherwise would soon 
have gnawed through his shell. He was cold and 
cramped; to turn in bed he had to unbutton his deck- 
cover, and go through first-class acrobatic performances. 
"For the first time in my life, 1 ' he says, "I found it 
necessary to get oat of bed in order to turn over in it." 
In the morning, when his last turn-out came, he was stiff 
and shivering, and, to make his toilet, he had to stand 
in wet shoes in icy water. He needed no reminder that 
the day was the first of December. 

In the neighbourhood of the dreaded Cape Hatteras 
the canoeist experienced one of the most frightful 
tempests he had ever seen, even in the tropics. Fortu- 
nately he had just entered the extensive Pamplico Sound, 
a vast inland sea extending some eighty miles in length 
and thirty in width, and separated from t^e open Atlantic 
only by a long and very narrow strip of land, which is 
pierced here and there by little passages. As he was 
entering the Sound he received a foretaste of what 

Cape Hatteras had in store 

For those who pass her howling door. 

The wind had increased to a tempest, and he was obliged 
to accept the invitation of a fisherman to board his boat. 
They attempted to tow the canoe, but the waves filled it 

140 



IN A PAPER CANOE 

with water, so that they were compelled to take it on 
board. 

In the same Sound, seeking the paper canoe, was a 
yacht, Julia, whose owner was bent upon capturing Mr. 
Bishop, that he might carry him off and hospitably enter- 
tain him to his Christmas dinner. The canoe was safely 
tucked away in a sheltered spot on the beach, and the 
owner comfortably housed in the neighbourhood, while 
the Julia in its search encountered all the fury of the 
storm. Thousands of acres were soon covered by the 
sea ; the vivid lightning every few minutes lit up the 
intense darkness of the night ; the outer waves pounded 
at the frail barrier between them and the inner sound till 
Mr. Bishop expected the whole to be washed away. But 
it was a grand sight and a most beautiful one. " The 
phosphorescent sea, covered with its tens of millions of 
animalculse, each one a miniature lighthouse, changed in 
colour from inky blackness to silver sheen." As for the 
tempest, it raged more madly than ever. "It howled, 
bellowed, and screeched like a legion of demons." It was 
a wild night on a specially and notoriously dangerous 
coast. A walk along the shore had already shown our 
voyager the remains of scores, if not hundreds, of wrecks 
embedded in the sand and mud. Mr. Bishop calculated 
that since the time of Sir Walter Raleigh, the total 
wrecks on that coast, if placed end to end, would have 
made one continuous line of vessels for many miles. 

All that night the yacht Julia was in extreme peril. 
Her anchors were all out, and these were assisted by all 
the iron ballast that could be fastened to the cables. No 
one could put his head out of the hatches, for wave upon 
wave swept clean over the vessel. The water was forced 
in streams through the cabin windows, which, with the 

141 



TWO THOUSAND MILES 

rolling of the ship, were again and again submerged. At 
length the anchors began to drag, and soon the yacht 
was flung with a thud on a shoal. The kindly owner and 
his companions were in imminent danger of going to the 
bottom. But at last the change of tide came, and the 
Julia was swung off the shoal into deep water, where 
luckily she was able to ride out the storm. 

The canoeist had presently to cross the mouth of the 
Hatteras Inlet, a place of whose dangers he had heard 
much. This tide-way was, in truth, a place to be dreaded. 
To his delight, the rower found the water not so rough 
on first inspection as he had feared. But he did not 
know the possibilities of the spot. He made the necessary 
preparations, examined the craft carefully, and pulled 
the canvas deck-cover closely round his waist. There was 
no help near should a mishap occur. As he pulled 
steadily into the dreaded waters, Mr. Bishop thought of 
the sharks, which often snapped at the oars of the 
Hatteras fishermen, and he reflected grimly on the special 
attractiveness of his own white shining oar blades ! A 
peculiar creeping sensation came over him, he declares. 

Soon he was at the meeting of two currents, and there 
the wind also swooped down upon him with full force. 
He rowed with all his might, having learnt that the 
greater speed helped to keep his frail craft afloat better. 
The canoe " bounced from one irregular wave to another, 
with a climbing action," which was terrifying enough, 
but which relieved his anxiety as to the buoyancy of his 
boat. Dreading now lest he might get too close inshore 
and be swamped and battered among the breakers, he 
glanced quickly over his shoulder, and was alarmed to see 
the " white horses" quite near. He had a hard tug of it 
to get his canoe into deeper water, but managed it. 

142 



IN A PAPER CANOE 

A curious experience now was his. As his shell of a 
boat tossed about madly on the seething waves, crowds of 
great unwieldy creatures suddenly sprang out of the water 
several feet into the air, and then dropped into the deep 
again. They darted under his craft, lashed the water with 
their tails, and gambolled about in a manner that may 
have been sportive to them, but which was decidedly 
disconcerting to the canoeist. For a moment he was so 
taken aback, indeed, that he ceased rowing, to find him- 
self instantly drifting dangerously in the trough of the 
seas. Not till now did he see that the frisky creatures 
were porpoises. For all that they were not welcome in 
the vicinity of a paper skiff, and Mr. Bishop pulled hard 
for shallower water and the shore. 

But to no purpose. The brutes would not leave him ; 
the quicker he rowed, the more numerous the animals 
actually seemed to become around him. The porpoises 
were from five to seven feet long, and must have weighed 
from two to four hundredweight each. The voyager was 
most afraid of " the strong, shooting movements of their 
tails in the sudden dives under my canoe, for one sportive 
touch of such a caudality would have rolled me over, and 
furnished material for a tale the very anticipation of 
which was unpleasant.'' 1 The brutes fairly chased him 
into three feet of water, and then, with noisy blowings 
and snortings, had perforce to leave him. 

Of alligators the canoeist saw hundreds in the course of 
his voyagings, but he generally contrived to make the 
view a distant one. Occasionally, however, the mutual 
inspection was a bit too close to be pleasant, as happened 
once when he had got farther south, in one of the mud 
creeks of Georgia. He was seated in his canoe, looking 
for a landing-place, when he became aware of a crashing 

143 



TWO THOUSAND MILES 

noise among the dry reeds and rushes that lined the shore. 
He could see the tops of the vegetation moving, but could 
detect no animal. His curiosity was soon more than 
satisfied, and at the sight that appeared he pulled off in 
remarkably vigorous style. " There emerged slowly from 
the covert an alligator nearly as large as my canoe. The 
brute's head was as long as a barrel ; his rough coat of 
mail was besmeared with mud, and his dull eyes were 
fixed steadily upon me. 11 For a moment the canoeist was 
as a man dazed, and actually remained on the spot till the 
huge reptile took the water. Then Mr. Bishop recovered 
his wits and his activity. He had a further experience of 
these reptiles in the swamps of Georgia. As he was 
paddling along he heard a peculiar sound frequently 
repeated, as though some one were beating the water with 
a flat board, and always ahead of him. By rapid paddling 
he was enabled to overtake the cause of the sound, and 
found that it was produced by innumerable alligators, 
which made for the water on his approach, and as they 
dived struck the surface violently with their tails. These, 
however, were very much smaller than the monster he had 
encountered some time before, being only about four feet 
long, and mere babies. But one night he was indeed 
alarmed by loud bellowing close to the spot where he was 
encamped, which was answered from the other side of the 
river. This proved to be two huge male alligators chal- 
lenging each other to combat ; but, although their prox- 
imity was anything but pleasant, Mr. Bishop passed the 
night without being molested. 

Water moccasins are the terror of the negroes in these 
parts, as they are so venomous that even their own species 
fly from their neighbourhood. As Mr. Bishop was paddling 
along he saw thousands of these reptiles, many of which 

144 



IN A PAPER CANOE 

dropped into the water from the overhanging branches of 
trees on his approach. 

Off South Carolina his tiny bark for the first time 
floated on the ocean, and here he had an anxious time, for 
after coasting the beach of the muddy lowlands he found 
his way to Bull's Bay. There was a heavy surf breaking 
on the shore, which he was obliged to hug closely because 
his old enemies the porpoises were fishing in large shoals. 
To avoid the dangerous oyster reefs on the one hand and 
the lively monsters on the other was as much as Mr. 
Bishop could do. Again and again he was chased towards 
the sharp shells. It was growing dark, and he was off a 
dangerous shore, and things looked anything but bright 
for the canoeist, when he suddenly espied the tall masts of 
a schooner sheltered in a creek, for which he made with 
all his strength. 

Travelling slowly on, now by the shore of the open sea, 
now by some inland water, fresh or salt, but usually the 
latter, and arranging an occasional portage, the voyager 
found himself at last at the end of his long and marvel- 
lous cruise, the vast Gulf of Mexico sending its waters 
lapping gently against the frail skin of his little shell. 
" The Maria Theresa danced in the shimmering waters of 
the great Southern Sea, and my heart was light, for my 
voyage was over." 

From Voyage of the Paper Canoe, by N. H. Bishop. Edinburgh : 
David Douglas, 1878. By obliging permission from the publisher. 



145 



CHAPTER XII 
A "LEVANTER" 

An American writer stranded at Smyrna — Takes passage for Malta in 
the Metamora — A big gale blows up — Under bare poles — The cabin 
a-wash — "On deck for your life ! " — A jagged precipice in front — 
Saved ! — Holding on while asleep — Two days and nights in the 
dangerous Archipelago — Nearing Malta — A great difficulty in land- 
ing the passenger — Unselfish conduct of the crew — Exhausted men 
haul out the heavy long-boat — Landed on the quarantine steps of 
Malta — Gallant and kindly skipper and crew. 

A LL storms at sea do not, happily, result in dire dis- 
j\ aster or loss of life. Often a vessel will ride through 
"* a tempest of the most violent kind, will be buffeted 

and battered, and even badly damaged, yet will emerge 
still seaworthy, and with not a life lost in the dangers 
and confusion of the time. A good example of this is 
afforded by the experiences of an American ship, in which 
Mr. Willis, a literary gentleman, sailed in the early years 
of the nineteenth century. 

Mr. Willis had for some time been cruising as a guest 
on an American frigate, but when she had at length to 
go into winter quarters, at Mahon, he had to leave her. 
It was in the days of the Greek revolt from the Turkish 
domination and tyranny. The traveller found himself 
stranded at Smyrna, seeking a passage to Malta by the 
first likely vessel leaving the port. Nothing very suitable 
seemed to show itself, although there were in the harbour 

146 



A -LEVANTER'' 

ships from every land the sun shone on, till one day, 
when Mr. Willis was sitting in the office of a merchant 
friend at Smyrna. Presently in walked a typical Yankee 
skipper, dressed in his best shore garments, however, for 
the visit. He turned out to be the master of the Ameri- 
can brig Met amor a, and it appeared that he was sailing 
for New York with the next morning land-breeze. The 
merchant introduced skipper and would-be passenger to 
each other, the former gripping the other's hand with 
such heartiness that for the moment Mr. Willis thought 
every bone in the member had been crushed. 

The captain could not boast of much accommodation, 
he said frankly. There was a starboard berth encumbered 
with the new sprit-sail, sundry boxes of figs, and a few of 
the mate's belongings, but some of the things could be 
shifted. So the bargain was struck, and the passenger 
went on board at midnight, to sleep soundly. When he 
awoke next morning he knew by the sound of the waves 
swishing against the sides of the vessel that the Metamora 
was out in the Gulf. Mounting to the deck, he could see 
the turrets of the city left far behind. The captain had 
donned his oilskins and tarpaulin hat, and was regarding 
through the glass a point of land ahead, near which were 
just visible the topsails of two frigates, which had put out 
of harbour before them. The brig ploughed her way steadily 
through the waves, but the United States warships more 
than kept the lead they had, and at length disappeared. 
A pleasant day enough passed, captain and passenger 
sitting on deck cracking nuts and spinning yarns. 

" We shall have a snorter out of the nor'-east," the 
skipper remarked, as the sun set over Ephesus, and he 
scanned the horizon a trifle anxiously. He went on to 
say that the passage through the Archipelago was a bad 

147 



A -LEVANTER" 

one at the best, as a rule, and terrible when there came a 
" Levanter. 1 '' ' He had already seized the tiller himself, 
and sent the helmsmen forward. 

Keeping the tiller hard a-port, the skipper appeared, 
to the surprise of his passenger, to be heading straight 
for an ugly rock at the end of the cape which forms the 
termination of the northern coast of the Gulf of Smyrna. 
Things looked ominous, but the captain kept on, till the 
point was only " a biscuit-toss " away. Then in a twink- 
ling the tiller was thrown over, and the vessel sheered off. 
Before long the anchor was dropped under the shelter of 
the towering granite cliffs, in the tiniest of bays, and 
there the night was spent in safety. Next morning the 
captain took his friend ashore for a spell, and a pleasant 
time was spent. When the sun unexpectedly showed 
itself again, however, a hasty return was made to the 
Metamora, and anchor was weighed. Soon the brig was 
surging through a tossing sea, the deck swept every 
minute or two under the increasing gale. None of the 
other vessels they had seen had ventured out of the 
sheltered anchorage. The wind freshening more and 
more drove the ship at a spanking rate through the 
heaving seas. The skipper looked anxious, but care- 
fully managed his barque, scudding rapidly along under 
a single sail. Mr. Willis was joyful, believing that he 
would see Malta far sooner than he had expected to do, 
if that rate of speed were kept up. 

At all times the Archipelago is a dangerous sea to 
navigate, if stormy weather prevails, and now the brig 
was entering it at the worst time possible, nightfall, and 
with an ugly gale and a threatening sky upon her. 
Nevertheless the Metamora sped on, leaving behind a 
French man-of-war, the Superbe, of eighty guns, which 

148 



A "LEVANTER" 

a few hours afterwards became a total wreck, unfortun- 
ately striking on one of the rocky islands. 

Bed-time came, but Mr. Willis could not for a long 
time tear himself from the deck. The vessel was now 
running under bare poles and threading her way among 
innumerable little islets. The risk was very great, and 
when the passenger went below and turned in for the 
night, it was with the feeling that if they all escaped 
destruction it would be by a miracle. The skipper was 
going to spend the night on deck, and he proceeded to 
lash everything that might otherwise be swept overboard, 
for a tremendous sea was now running. Everybody got 
for himself biscuit and some grog, the only refreshment 
they were likely to get for a considerable time, the cook 
being quite past work in this wild tossing turmoil of 
waters. Before turning in, the passenger got a glimpse 
of the captain's face, and it showed him — what, however, 
he already knew — "that though resolute and unmoved, 
he knew himself to be entering on the most imminent 
hazard of his life. 11 

Mr. Willis had to hang on to his berth hard, in order 
to keep himself from being pitched out headlong. Above 
his head he could hear the seas descend in tons on the 
deck, and could feel the ship making her dives under the 
mountainous waves at every pitch. He had prepared for 
swimming by throwing off everything likely to hinder his 
efforts. In his cabin things were too lively to be plea- 
sant. His dressing-case and its scattered contents, cloth- 
ing, and various etceteras, were tossed hither and thither 
in the water that covered the floor ; and every sea that 
poured down the companion-ladder added to the wash in 
the apartment. The passenger could do nothing but 
watch, by the dim light of the hanging lantern, his coat 

149 



A "LEVANTER" 

and waistcoat going through curious antics in the sea- 
water bath on the floor of the cabin. He had a 
miniature tempest of his own, in fact, with tiny waves 
heaving and rolling and tossing and splashing in faint 
but almost comic imitation of the mightier turmoil out- 
side. 

Worse and worse grew the storm. Mr. Willis could 
hear the hoarse shout of the captain giving the order to 
help in lashing the helm. The crash of the water on 
deck as it fell in vast volumes was now awful. The 
passenger's portmanteau had been well tied, but suddenly 
it broke loose, and shot from side to side of the cabin in 
a most violent fashion. Worse than that, there were 
some unoccupied berths in the place, and these were filled 
with fig-boxes, which now began to leap wildly about. 
Says the traveller, "If I was not to be drowned like a dog 
in a locked cabin, I feared, at least, I should have my legs 
broken by the leap of a fig-box into my berth. My situa- 
tion was wholly uncomfortable, yet half-ludicrous.'" 

" Where are we ? " asked the passenger, when, about 
midnight, the skipper descended for a glass of grog. The 
man was looking pale and exhausted. 

" God only knows ! " was the reply. " I expect her to 
strike every minute."" 

Then he went out, locked the cabin door again, and 
with difficulty got himself on deck once more, leaving Mr. 
Willis a prisoner to think his own thoughts. 

An hour passed away. The winds were howling and 
shrieking in the rigging like an army of fiends. The 
vessel heaved more violently than ever, and before long 
the occupant of the cabin, hearing the rush of feet above, 
conjectured that the men were cutting the lashings of the 
tiller. Presently Mr. Willis fancied the pitch of the 

150 



A "LEVANTER" 

ship was becoming shorter, and at once he guessed they 
were nearing some reef. He sat up and prepared to 
spring out of his berth. At that instant the cabin door 
was flung open, and a huge wave poured down the ladder 
and into the room. 

" On deck for your life ! " a voice cried hoarsely. It 
was the skipper. 

The passenger was only half-dressed, both head and 
feet bare, but he did not hesitate an instant. Making 
for the companion steps, he dashed up through the 
deluges of salt water that poured upon him in stunning, 
blinding volume. The brig was tossing so fearfully that, 
in spite of the water, he had to stand and cling to a rope 
when the rushes came. Thus blinded, buffeted, be- 
wildered, the passenger at last stood on deck, just as the 
captain shouted, " Hard down ! " in a voice never to be 
forgotten. The crisis was close at hand, though Mr. 
Willis did not at that moment know exactly what it was. 
He was instantly to learn. 

" As the rudder creaked with the strain," he says, " the 
brig fell slightly off, and, rising with a tremendous 
surge, I saw dimly relieved against the sky the edge 
of a ragged precipice, and the next moment, as if 
shot from a catapult, we were flung back into the 
trough of the sea by the retreating wave, and surged 
heavily beyond the rock." It was an awful experience — 
the maddened sea, the frowning precipice just in front, the 
vessel driven with the speed of an arrow straight upon it ! 
Not a soul on board could have lived a minute had the 
expected crash come. 

But, most providentially, the worst was past. The 
Metamora had given the rock the slip, as one might say ; 
she was now tearing away from the fatal spot. "The 

151 



A -LEVANTER" 

noise of the waters, and the rapid commands of the 
captain, now drowned the hiss of the wind, and in a few 
minutes we were plunging once more through the un- 
certain darkness, the long and regular heavings of the sea 
alone assuring us that we were driving from the shore.'* 1 
The imminent and fearful danger threatening the American 
barque was over. 

The passenger, though intensely relieved in mind, as he 
must have been, was yet in anything but a comfortable 
predicament. He was drenched to the skin, and shiver- 
ing in the bitter wind. The creaking masts seemed as if 
they would come down and crush everybody beneath 
them. If he went back to his cabin, the place was inun- 
dated worse than ever. But there was nothing better to do, 
and so he turned in once more, wet, aching, and miserable, 
to wait till daylight. When at length the morning did 
come, the storm was still furious as ever. The skipper 
went to tell his passenger — what, however, Mr. Willis 
had already suspected — that the precipice on which they 
had so nearly run headlong was the southern point of 
the island of Negropont. It was a veritable miracle that 
had saved them. The back wave had taken the brig off 
for an instant, and when the return roller had come she 
had risen, and had shot just beyond the point. Well may 
the master have "looked beaten out," his eyes "protruding 
and strained," his face to " have emaciated in the night."" 
The gallant fellow was quite done up, and threw himself 
upon a berth for half an hour. When the skipper again 
hurried on deck Mr. Willis followed him, having had 
more than enough of his own berth that night. 

The scene that met his gaze was one of desolation. 
Bulwarks and jolly-boat had alike been swept away, and 
the long-boat was the only movable thing left on deck. 

152 



A "LEVANTER" 

The men were weary, haggard in face, and some were 
actually dozing, holding on mechanically but firmly. 
Every moment the seas washed over them, for the storm 
was still at its height. With difficulty the skipper and 
his mate kept the brig's head to the waves, looking vigil- 
antly and anxiously for any land ahead. Not a word was 
spoken ; all were quite past that. 

A miserable day passed in this way, the storm ever 
driving and buffeting, the captain and his crew sticking 
to their posts hour after hour, with the exception of an 
occasional absence for a few minutes, when each man in 
turn would run below, to swallow a little grog and munch 
a bit of biscuit, which was done in silence, and then 
return doggedly to his duty. It was a fine display of 
determined endurance. As for food, there was none to be 
had, save the spirits and the ship biscuit. Mr. Willis was 
chilled, soaked, hungry, thoroughly done up, and, when 
darkness fell again, was fain to throw himself, even in that 
wretched condition, upon his bed. There, clinging with 
both hands to prevent himself from being flung out, he 
fell asleep, and, like the men above, held on fast even 
while he slept. His brief spells of rest and unconscious- 
ness were a real blessing to him, for they enabled him to 
forget for the time his miseries and the dangers of his 
situation. 

Another day wore away, then another night — how, the 
traveller hardly knew. Never once all this time did the 
storm abate. The Metamora flew at great speed before 
the wind, happily avoiding the thousand dangers that 
beset her course. When the morning of the third day 
dawned the skipper reckoned that the vessel had 
made fully four hundred miles in the hurricane. "The 
crew were exhausted with watching, the brig laboured 

153 



A "LEVANTER" 

more and more heavily, and the storm seemed 
eternal."" 

But the biggest gale that ever blows wears itself out at 
last, and so did this in the Grecian Archipelago. About 
midday the sun showed itself a little, through the parted 
clouds, and the wind began to lessen somewhat in force. 
The sea was still raging, but now the cook managed to 
pull himself together, and made a fire. A meal of boiled 
rice was all he could set before the famished men, but no 
banquet ever tasted half so good, and a mighty change of 
cheer came for passenger and sailors. If the sea was very 
rough, it was at least an open sea ; the dangerous rock- 
encumbered Archipelago had been left behind ; Malta was 
ahead and at no great distance. " The pitching and racking 
motion, and the occasional shipping of a heavy wave, still 
forbade all thoughts or hopes of comfort, but the dread 
of shipwreck troubled us no more, and I passed the day 
in contriving how to stand long enough on my legs to get 
my wet traps from my floating portmanteau." It was 
indeed a wonderful escape, when one bears in mind the 
violence of the tempest, the dangerous nature of the 
navigation, and the fact that not a man was lost or even 
seriously injured, and that the ship, though battered, 
remained seaworthy. 

But there was yet a serious trouble facing Mr. Willis. 
He was desirous of spending some time at Malta, and had, 
in truth, important business there. But there were great 
difficulties in the way of getting him there, near as the 
Metamora was to the spot. The skipper could not land 
his passenger at that port, and that for two reasons. 
First, there was the question of the insurance. The 
policy contained no mention of a call at Malta, and the 
underwriters would have refused payment if loss should 

154 



A "LEVANTER" 

have occurred after such an alteration of course — a very 
serious risk for any skipper to run. In the second place, 
had the Metamora made the port, she would have been 
quarantined, coming as she did from Asia Minor. To set 
Mr. Willis ashore in one of the ship's boats was almost 
equally out of the question. Her smaller boat had gone 
in the storm ; the long-boat was too heavy for the 
exhausted sailors to get out and launch ; at least the 
captain did not feel that he could reasonably call on the 
poor fellows to make the effort at present. All this came 
as a series of knock-down blows to the passenger, as well 
they might. There remained only Gibraltar, near which 
the vessel would pass, and there, he well knew, they would 
not [have him at any price. In that case he must, willy- 
nilly, go the whole distance to America, a pleasant 
prospect to one who must needs stop at Malta ! Pre- 
sently a pilot boat came along. 

" Do you want a pilot ? " was shouted. 

" No ! " thundered the American skipper. The pilot 
was turning away when the captain asked, " Will you take 
a passenger ashore ? " 

"Where from?" 

" Smyrna." 

" No-c-o ! " came the reply. 

" I knew how it would be, sir," the captain remarked, 
turning to his disconsolate passenger. u He wouldn't put 
himself and his boat's crew into twenty days 1 quarantine 
to oblige you and me." 

And the kindly fellow began to comfort Mr. Willis by 
the assurance that they would land him in New York in 
no time, and that he could then soon return to Malta ! 
A matter of eight thousand miles home and out again 
seemed a trifle to the master mariner. Just then the 

155 



A "LEVANTER" 

pilot returned and offered to tow the passenger ashore in 
the long-boat, but the sum he asked was exorbitant. The 
skipper, in a rage at this attempted extortion, gave the 
pilot a bit of his mind in no measured terms. The man 
and his crew slunk off crestfallen and chagrined, while the 
passenger, at this point giving way to an uncontrollable 
fit of passion, stamped about the deck, execrating almost 
everything and everybody. Captain and crew looked on 
in silence. 

All at once the skipper called his hands together and 
put the case before them. He would not have asked his 
men, he said, to do what he was about to request, except 
to serve a fellow-creature in his time of trouble and 
necessity. Exhausted though they were, would they try 
to get out the long-boat ? The instant and cheerful 
" Ay, ay, sir,"" that came as one shout from the throats of 
these fine fellows, was a thing never to be forgotten by the 
man on whose behalf all that heavy labour had to be 
undertaken. " From the chief mate to the black cabin-boy, 
every man sprang cheerily to the lashings." It meant 
exhausting toil, long continued, and not without danger, 
to heave out the heavy craft and get her over the side in 
such a tempest-tossed sea. But the task was accomplished, 
and at the end of it not a man would accept a penny for 
his trouble. With a full heart Mr. Willis shook hands 
with the gallant and generous-natured sailors, and left 
the ship. And when he landed, we can well understand 
his feelings when he says, " I shook the hard fist of the 
kind-hearted skipper on the quarantine stairs, and watched 
his heavy boat as she crept out of the little harbour, with 
tears in my eyes." 



156 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

Captain Vancouver — The -Discovery and the Chatham sail for the 
Pacific — An early circumnavigator — Always tries to conciliate the 
savages— At Nootka Sound— A sudden attack by canoes — English 
boats in danger — The war dress and weapons of the Indians — 
Savages attempt to grab everything — Indians seize the boat — An 
odd mask — Savages egged on by an old woman — A lively time for 
Vancouver — His endeavours to preserve peace — Two sailors badly 
wounded — Orders to fire — Hasty and ludicrous flight — Attack from 
the top of the cliff — Reconciliation — A friendly visit from the 
chiefs — A squabble between two native factions — A savage sea- 
fight averted. 



M' 



OST people are aware in a general way that the 
large island of Vancouver, off the western coast of 
British Columbia, was named after a navigator, 
Vancouver, but it is to be feared that this famous sailor 
and discoverer is not so well known as he deserves to be. 
He takes high rank as a sea-captain and an explorer, and 
amongst the great mariners of his day he was surpassed 
only by that king of navigators, the immortal Captain 
Cook. 

Captain Vancouver was, in 1790, sent to the Pacific as 
commander of the Government sloop Discovery, a new 
vessel, of 340 tons, and carrying ten four-pounders and ten 
swivels, with a orew of 130 men and officers. Amongst 
the latter were Lieutenant Puget, whose name survives in 
Puget Sound, and Surgeon Menzies, a capable botanist, 
who was commissioned to make researches into the plant 

157 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

life of the coasts of that part of the North American con- 
tinent. The Discovery had as companion ship the 
Chatham, under Lieutenant Broughton. This latter 
vessel had a crew of forty-five men, and mounted three 
four-pounders and six swivels. The object of Vancouver's 
expedition was twofold, the first political, the other 
scientific and geographical. There had been difficulties 
with Spain respecting the territory in the neighbourhood 
of Nootka Sound, and the Spanish had not long before 
actually seized a portion of the British possessions out 
there. But the difficulties had now been cleared away, 
and Spain was willing to relinquish her seizure. Van- 
couver's first duty was to proceed to Nootka Sound, and 
there formally receive back the territory. That done, he 
was to explore the north-west coast of North America, 
and gain all possible information as to those regions. He 
voyaged out by way of the Cape of Good Hope and 
Australia to the Sandwich Islands, and thence to Van- 
couver Island, while on his return journey he rounded 
Cape Horn and crossed the Atlantic. Captain Vancouver 
was thus one of the earlier circumnavigators of the globe. 
It is greatly to his credit that, unlike some explorers, 
Vancouver was ever anxious to deal fairly and humanely 
by the savage peoples he met with, and was always at 
much pains to avoid quarrels and bloodshed. His policy 
was to conciliate the natives, and with this intent he often 
tried to induce some of them to go aboard his vessels, 
where they would receive some little present, much to 
their delight. After having with great difficulty per- 
suaded a man to step on board the Discovery, Vancouver 
thus describes what took place. " On his entering the 
ship, he trembled and was much agitated ; apprehension, 
astonishment, and admiration, equally appearing at the 

158 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

same instant, and though, on his being made welcome 
after the usual fashion, and presented with a small iron 
adze, his countenance became more serene and cheerful, 
yet he still appeared in a state of great anxiety." The 
savage at length went off delighted, and soon returned 
with numbers of his brethren. A sharp look-out had to 
be kept ; these natives, like others in those seas, were 
ready to seize anything they could lay hands on and carry 
away. 

His political mission at Nootka Sound having been 
successfully completed, Captain Vancouver began his ex- 
ploration of the coast. Here he was destined to meet 
with difficulties from the aborigines, many tribes of whom 
were by no means disposed to be friendly. His first ex- 
perience of the suspicion and hostility of the natives was 
this. The commander and some of his men were near 
the shore in two boats, one the Discovery's launch, the 
other the yawl, a much smaller craft. The ships them- 
selves were anchored in a bay some miles up the coast. 
The Englishmen were puzzling over the smoke which 
arose from a cluster of trees, no sign of human habitation 
being seen anywhere. Suddenly a couple of canoes shot 
out, containing between a dozen and twenty natives. 
These fellows expressed a savage ferocity beyond any 
Vancouver had ever seen before. Their faces were painted 
with red and black and white, making a hideous show. 
The savages dashed up to the smaller of the two boats, 
in which were the captain, Lieutenant Puget, and one or 
two men only. The launch was some distance away. 
The natives approached quite close, evidently feeling no 
fear. According to his custom Vancouver offered them 
presents of trinkets and various other articles, but to his 
great surprise all were scornfully and angrily rejected. 

159 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

Accordingly the captain turned his attention to a hideous 
old woman, the only female of the party, who seemed 
mad with rage against the white intruders. She con- 
temptuously refused their offers, while a savage-looking 
fellow, presumably her husband, "arranged his spears, 
about six or eight in number, and placed them with their 
points just over the bow of the canoe, where he sat ; he 
also laid near him his bow with some arrows; then put 
on his war garment, and drew his dagger/' The men in 
the other canoe made similar demonstrations, and things 
began to wear an ugly look. 

The launch was still a long way behind, too far to be 
of service, should the savages at once begin the fierce 
attack for which they were preparing. The position was 
critical, and had the explorer been a man of less tact and 
coolness, it would have been a fatal one. Without ex- 
hibiting the least sign of fear, the captain renewed his 
offers of presents, and did his best to make the Indians 
understand that he was ready to do a trade with them. 
It was useless ; they would have none of it ; and, egged 
on by the screeching old woman, the men prepared for 
the onset. Vancouver temporised, and still tried all he 
knew to conciliate the fellows. He managed so well that 
he held the savages at arm's length till the launch came 
up, and both boats pulled towards the shore. The Indians 
now altered their tone completely, and even permitted 
the Englishmen to land. Strangely enough, too, they 
were now eager to trade, a thing they had refused before 
with rage and execrations and threats. It was easy to 
see, however, that the Indians were restrained from giving 
play to their ferocity only by the fact that they believed 
themselves to be outmanned by the pale faces. They 
wanted but the opportunity, and they would soon show 

1 60 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

of what they were capable. The Englishmen had proof 
of this almost at once. 

Captain Vancouver gives a picturesque description of 
the war dress and weapons of these peculiarly savage 
peoples, and it is worth quoting. 

"Their spears, about sixteen feet long, were pointed 
with iron, wrought in several simple forms, amongst 
which some were barbed. Their bows were well con- 
structed, and their arrows, with which they were plenti- 
fully supplied, appeared but rude, and were pointed with 
bone or iron. Each man was provided with an iron 
dagger, suspended from his neck in a leathern sheath, 
seemingly intended to be used when in close action. 
Their war garments were formed of two, three, or more 
folds, of the strongest hides of the land animals they 
are able to procure. In the centre was a hole sufficient 
to admit the head and left arm to pass through ; the 
mode of wearing them being over the right shoulder and 
under the left arm. The left side of this garment is 
sewed up, but the right side remains open ; the body is, 
however, tolerably well protected, and both arms are left 
at liberty for action. As a further security, on the part 
which covers the breast they sometimes fix on the inside 
thin laths of wood ; the whole is seemingly well con- 
structed." 

After taking observations the party again embarked 
with the object of carrying on the survey, during which 
the launch had a narrow escape from utter destruction. 
At one part of the shore a cleft in the rocks appeared, 
through which the water was rushing like a mill-race into 
a depression or basin very much below the level of the sea. 
The boat unfortunately was caught in its influence and 
could make no headway. Vancouver, who was some 
l 161 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

distance behind in the yawl, hurried up, and after super- 
human efforts on the part of both crews, the launch was 
extricated from its perilous position with the sailors in a 
thoroughly exhausted condition. 

More of the natives now sprang out from somewhere, 
and several canoes appeared on the sea, four of them at 
least large and well manned. For a time the natives 
kept a friendly attitude, and even accepted trifling presents. 
Vancouver's suspicions were lulled by this conduct, so he 
landed, leaving Puget in the yawl. But before long they 
began to throw off the mask, and on Vancouver's return 
he was informed that the natives had attempted to grab 
everything within their reach. It was clear the Indians 
were bent on plunder, and, moreover, were preparing for 
violence. When objections were raised by the English- 
men to this wholesale pilfering, the savages started to 
yell at the top of their voices, shouting for the big war 
canoes to come up. The situation began to be anything 
but reassuring for the sailors. 

Vancouver ordered his boats to be rowed quickly away, 
thinking thereby to rid himself of the enemy, for such 
the savages now plainly showed themselves to be. In- 
stantly the fellows seized the craft at various points and 
held her back. Sometimes they would lose their hold for 
a moment, but only to grab the boat's quarters again. 
Nevertheless the Englishmen managed to make some 
little progress, and were beginning to think that they 
might after all get clear away without violence. Just 
then one of the biggest of the canoes, which was likewise 
steered by a hideous old woman, who wore a frightful lip 
ornament, shot right across their bows and stopped all 
farther advance. In a twinkling the hag lashed the yawl 
to her canoe with the lead-line. A young fellow, prob- 

162 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

ably the chief, sprang on board the boat, and, sitting 
down in the bow, put on a mask showing a mixture of a 
wolf's head and human face. At the same moment one 
of his men coolly snatched a musket out of the boat. 
The position of affairs looked bad for Vancouver and 
Puget as the launch had again drifted to a distance. 
The treachery of the Indians was only too clear now. 
There was nothing but to begin another parley, to gain 
time, and Vancouver stepped to the front of his boat to 
speak to the chief, but carrying a gun in his hand. On 
this "the surrounding Indians, about fifty in number, 
seized their daggers, brandished their spears, and pointed 
them towards us in all directions." It seemed as if the 
Englishmen would instantly be killed, for the launch, 
though coming towards the spot, was yet some distance 
away. 

Captain Vancouver, with marvellous patience and tact, 
not to mention coolness, stood his ground and proceeded 
to parley. He succeeded so well that he might have 
ultimately pacified the angry savages but for the old 
woman and her husband, a ferocious brute, who sat near 
her in the big war canoe. While the woman yelled and 
screamed in fury to excite the rest, the old man, helped 
by others of his party, seized the oars, so that the boat's 
crew could not stir an inch from the spot. While this 
was going on in the fore-part of the boat, Puget had an 
awkward time of it at the stern, the natives brandishing 
their spears with furious threatening gestures. The cap- 
tain seeing this ran aft, and for the moment the savages 
in that quarter quieted down a little. But the instant 
Vancouver left the bow, the troubles began there again. 
Once more he flew to the front, when every spear was 
suddenly dropped again, singular to relate. Thus the 

163 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

captain ran distracted from one end of the boat to the 
other, the demonstrations rapidly becoming more alarm- 
ing. Soon " a general commotion seemed to have taken 
place ; some spears were thrust, one or two of which 
passed very near me, and the Indians in all directions 
began to seize all the movables in our boat that they 
could possibly reach, and to commit other acts of violence. 
Our destruction now seemed almost inevitable ; as I could 
hardly natter myself that the force we had to oppose 
against the numbers that surrounded us, and, as it were, 
held us so completely within their power, would have 
been sufficient to make them retire." 

Things could not go on long in this fashion, and, 
fortunately, deliverance was at hand. The launch had 
come within pistol-range, and the captain, greatly against 
his will, however, was compelled in self-defence to give 
the order to fire. He had tried his best to avoid this last 
resource, but in vain. The volleys crashed from both the 
English boats at the same instant. The effect on the 
Indians was as astonishing as it was satisfactory to 
the white men. Vancouver had fully expected that the 
savages, who themselves had serviceable pistols and 
muskets, and knew how to use them, would have shown 
stubborn fight, in which case the Englishmen would have 
had little chance, seeing the overwhelming numbers of the 
enemy as compared with their own. Luckily the natives 
were struck with mortal terror, and a lively spectacle was 
seen amongst them. M Those in the small canoes jumped 
into the sea, whilst those in the large ones, by getting all 
on one side, raised the opposite sides of their canoes, so 
that they were protected from the fire of the yawl, though 
they were in some measure exposed to that of the launch, 
and in this manner they scrambled sideways to the shore." 

164 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

A good riddance, happily. But the savages had de- 
cidely " scored," to use a very modern phrase. They had 
managed to carry off three muskets, a fowling-piece, a 
couple of cartridge-boxes, a few books, and several odds 
and ends, leaving to the rightful owners only a blunder- 
buss, a musket, another fowling-piece loaded with small 
shot, and a brace of pistols. There was fortunately in 
the boat a chest containing a good supply of weapons, 
which had not been rifled. 

Vancouver at once served out these arms, and prepared 
to inflict heavy chastisement on the treacherous savages. 
His intention was to destroy all the canoes he could reach, 
and he gave the necessary orders. But he found just then 
that two of his men had been badly wounded, though the 
sturdy fellows had thus far kept the matter to themselves, 
and had gone on fighting, notwithstanding their injuries. 
Ever humane, the captain refused to do anything more 
till these unfortunate sailors were attended to. The 
Indians consequently got themselves to shore, and after- 
wards appeared on the top of the lofty cliffs overlooking 
the boats, and there they got ready for an effective attack 
as well as for defence. 

Heavy stones in showers were now hurled down from 
the top of the rocks upon the Englishmen, when at length 
Vancouver and his crews drew near. Some of the missiles 
fell into the launch, even at a distance of thirty or forty 
yards. All the guns the natives had stolen they held 
ready, as well as some of their own. One of the first was 
fired, but did no harm ; as for the other weapons, Van- 
couver was of opinion that they were not loaded, ammuni- 
tion having apparently run short among the Indians. 
" One of the most savage-looking fellows amongst them, 
just as I gave orders to fire, snapped his piece at me ; but 

165 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

it missed fire, and he immediately laid it down and took 
up his spear with all imaginable composure." Vancouver 
withdrew his boats to a point beyond range, till he had 
made all arrangements for an effective joint attack by 
both his boats. 

Lieutenant Swaine, who had been in charge of the 
launch, took this opportunity of describing to his chief 
what had taken place before the launch had come to the 
rescue of the yawl. The story corresponded closely with 
that which Vancouver himself had to tell — the apparently 
friendly approach by the natives — the crowding around — 
the attempts at pilfering — the discontent among the 
fellows when they were made to keep their distance — a 
hag at the rudder exciting the men to the attack— all 
had been repeated in almost exactly the same way and 
the same order as in the case of the yawl. The launch 
party, seeing that hostilities were intended, had seized 
their weapons and stood on the defensive, with the effect 
of causing the savages to loose their hold of the boat and 
fall back a little. Then the Indians had suddenly left 
the launch, and had made off at full speed for the yawl. 
As they were paddling towards Vancouver and Puget, 
they took up their spears from the bottom of the canoes. 
Lieutenant Swaine, seeing clearly that the savages meant 
mischief, had hurried after the canoes. An exciting race 
had taken place, the launch, luckily, reaching the spot in 
time to be of such signal service to the commander and 
his companions in their fearful danger. Such was the tale 
the lieutenant had to tell. 

Captain Vancouver, on consideration, thought it better, 
in spite of all that had passed, to adopt a policy of con- 
ciliation rather than proceed to measures of severity and 
revenge, and this for several reasons. He had a good deal 

166 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

of surveying to do, and would thus have to land often and 
come in contact with the natives. Moreover, his natural 
disposition was always greatly averse from unfriendliness 
towards ignorant savages. Accordingly he withdrew, and 
a day or two later invited a couple of chiefs to visit his 
ships, which were anchored off the coast. The chiefs 
took with them a party of twenty-five men in canoes, and 
were hospitably received by the commander and his 
officers. The Indians were much impressed by what they 
saw, and showed the utmost friendliness, and Vancouver 
felt that he had gained an important point. Oddly 
enough, the savages were more delighted with the bread 
and treacle than with anything else given them. But 
they liked whale oil almost as well ! 

Apparently there were others of the Indians who were 
by no means pleased by the action of the two friendly 
chiefs, and, to the surprise of everybody, a large war 
canoe full of armed and shouting men appeared close to 
the Chatham. Instantly the visitors to the ships sprang 
into their own canoes alongside, grasped their weapons, 
and prepared for conflict. The Englishmen looked on 
while a curious scene followed. Steadily the hostile crews 
rowed towards each other, the warriors standing, lances in 
hand, ready to begin the fray. All the while angry 
shouting from both parties was going on, with excited 
gesticulations. The Englishmen felt certain they were 
about to witness a miniature sea-fight. Both sides had 
guns and pistols, all very bright, and apparently in good 
order. 

After much parley, however, an understanding seemed 
to have been arrived at. But the settlement was not yet 
final, as soon appeared. "Just as they came alongside 
the Discovery, one of the chiefs who had been on board, 

167 



THE SAVAGES OF VANCOUVER 

drew, with much haste, from within the breast of his war 
garment, a large iron dagger, and appeared to be 
extremely irritated by something that had been said 
by those in the large canoe, who again, with great coolness, 
took up their pistols and blunderbusses." Nevertheless, 
the expected conflict did not take place, and finally, a 
satisfactory peace was made, and the weapons on both 
sides were carefully wrapped up and put away. It is more 
than probable that had not the English vessels been in the 
vicinity there would have been a savage sea-battle. 

In the long run Captain Vancouver managed so well 
that he put an end to all suspicion and hostility on the 
part of the Indians, and was able to pursue his surveying 
operations in peace. To celebrate and ratify this friendly 
understanding between Indian and pale face, the chiefs 
organised a spectacle. They decked themselves out in 
magnificent war paint and feathers, came off in the largest 
canoe, and paddled round the men-of-war, singing their 
songs the while. This was followed by a strange enter- 
tainment of music, and acting, and posturing, the perform- 
ance seeming to cause intense delight and amusement to 
the crowds of natives assembled. 



168 



CHAPTER XIV 

ENGLISH BARQUES AND 
LA PLATAN SHOALS 

The "English Bank"— The Aglaia— Risky salvage operations— She 
floats again — Hawsers snap — Rescue of the crew by the tug 
Plata — Destruction of the Aglaia — Another vessel on the Bank — 
A dash to the rescue — Fruitless attempts — Tugs return to Monte 
Video for coal — To the rescue again — Second failure — A third 
attempt — The barque not to be seen ! — A search and a find — Plata 
creeps to within sixty yards of the wreck — Franco goes off in 
small boat — Rescues four men — His second trip rescues five — 
Third trip brings off the remaining four — A bump and a splintered 
stern-post— Full steam on and pumps working — All safe in port — 
Rewards from the British Government. 

PROUD as every Anglo-Saxon and every Britisher 
should be of the long and brave record of the 
achievements of his race and nation, he has long 
since given up that old notion which once held possession 
of him, namely, that no other peoples are worth mention- 
ing on the same day with his own. The present chapter 
is to be devoted to a striking instance of the deeds of 
daring that may be witnessed at times in even the most 
distant corners of the world. 

All are familiar with the map of South America, show- 
ing the vast La Plata estuary, on whose shores stands 
Buenos Ayres, now the largest town in the Southern 
Hemisphere, and the equally well-known town of Monte 
Video. What is not so well known is the existence at 

169 



ENGLISH BARQUES 

the mouth of this great opening of an extensive shoal, or 
series of shoals, the " English Bank," a terror to all 
navigators in that part of the world. On this treacherous 
bit of the Atlantic two fine English barques were wrecked 
in the same storm, some twenty years ago. The story of 
the rescue of the crews of these vessels, the Aglaia and 
the Georgina, especially the latter, is one which for thrill- 
ing interest and for conspicuous pluck and determination 
on the part of the rescuers even the grand annals of the 
British Lifeboat Service cannot surpass. 

It was in the month of August, 1889, the February, 
one may say, of the southern latitudes, when, during a 
frightful storm, the British barque Aglaia ran aground 
on this "English Bank," some twenty-five miles out at 
sea from Monte Video. The crew were compelled to 
abandon her. However, a few fine days succeeding, 
salvage operations were vigorously carried on. But 
about noon on the fourth day of the work, when the 
salvage was almost completed, another storm began to 
gather, and by evening it had burst forth in fury. Never- 
theless, in spite of the tempest, and the extreme darkness 
of the night, the gallant crews of the two Monte Video 
tug steamers Emperor and Uruguay persevered in their 
labours. 

The Aglaia, now cleared of her heavy cargo, and 
further lightened by the use of the pumps, showed signs 
of floating off when the tide should rise a little higher, 
the two tugs meantime straining at the stout hawsers 
that attached them to the stranded barque. For hours 
the men worked, exposed to the mountainous seas that 
swept over them every minute, and to the furious winds 
that howled and shrieked ; all the while in intensest dark- 
ness, save when, at frequent intervals, the bewildering 

170 



AND LA PLATAN SHOALS 

and blinding flashes of lightning lit up far and near the 
storm-tossed ocean. The danger to the tugs was very 
great, too, from another quarter ; should the Aglaiu 
suddenly float off, she might come upon them with a rush 
and possibly shatter the two steamers to pieces. 

All at once the cables fall slack, but are immediately 
stretched taut again. The barque is moving. But she 
is bumping here and there on the sandy shoal, as those 
on board of her can feel only too well. The stokers are 
now ordered to pile up the furnaces of the tugs, and a 
last big effort is made. Men stand ready to cut the 
cables in the twinkling of an eye in case the barque should 
come surging suddenly on the steamers. Hurrah ! Cheers 
burst from every throat. The Aglaia floats again ! 
Hard and terribly dangerous toil has been rewarded by 
success. 

But stay ! there is the tempest to be reckoned with. 
At that very moment the gale bore down upon the spot 
with such an access of fury that instantly the thick 
hawsers were snapped as if they had been pieces of pack- 
thread. Only the chain cable held. A great cry came 
from the fifty-six men who were at work on the Aglaia, 
a cry echoed by their brethren on board the tugs. The 
barque had no anchor ; she was rapidly filling. Should 
the cable give way, she would be instantly hurled upon 
some one of the rocks near. Even should the chain 
continue to hold, the vessel would in a very few minutes 
founder. To save the men in such deadly peril was now 
the task of the tug crews. 

Fortunately a third steam-tug, the Plata, was by this 
time at hand, with a ketch in tow. The Emperor and 
the Uruguay did their best to keep the barque from 
falling into the trough of the sea, while the Plata, going 

171 



ENGLISH BARQUES 

to the sheltered side, began to get off the men. For two 
hours, in the darkness, and with all the fury of the 
tempest upon them, the rescuers worked, conspicuous 
among them a gallant fellow, Nicolas Ramasso. Every 
soul was taken out of the doomed vessel. The risk run 
by the rescuing steamers was, as it always is under such 
circumstances, far greater than the ordinary landsman 
can understand. There is the danger of running upon 
shoals or sunken rocks ; the vessel in tow may suddenly 
dash upon the tugs and bring destruction with it ; the 
cable may, in the wild tossings of the sea, become fouled 
with the screws. 

The last man had been taken off the barque — it seemed 
as if the tempest had awaited this moment — when with 
a whir the strong wire hawsers parted, and the Aglaia 
was free of control. " Like an untamed colt," says one 
excellent account of the disaster, " that on obtaining its 
liberty rushes wildly across the plain and charges against 
any obstacle that may interrupt its mad career, so that 
dismantled vessel, once more free, without either bit or 
bridle, rushed madly upon the very rocks from which she 
had, but a short time since, been rescued almost un- 
damaged ! " Thus perished the Aglaia, on August 29th, 
1889, but, happily, without the loss of a single life. 
There was no more to be done, and the brave tugmen 
started for home, deeply regretting that their work, 
which had so brilliantly saved the crew, should have 
failed to save the ship also. 

The steamers had not gone far in the direction of 
Monte Video when the sailors became aware of lights 
away out at sea. It was a signal for assistance ; and all 
at once, during a vivid lightning flash, a vessel was seen 
on the rocks in a most dangerous part of the Bank, a 

172 



AND LA PLATAN SHOALS 

part which it would be almost impossible for any rescuing 
craft to reach. For a few moments the spectacle drives 
to despair the crews of the Monte Video tugs. Nothing 
can be done for the stranded ship or her men out 
yonder ; both are lost. But the skippers of the Plata 
and the other steamers are not the men to abandon 
fellow-mortals in their direst peril, and they at once 
set their course for the fatal spot. Those gallant men 
are "going to defy death that they may save the 
living ! " 

The oldest sailor of the party could not remember so 
wild a night. " Dark was the sky, and covered with 
dense and heavily-charged clouds which, in rushing to- 
gether, gave forth, amidst horrible confusion, terrific 
claps of thunder, flashes of lightning, and fierce gusts of 
wind and rain, which mixed with the tempestuous roar- 
ing of the awful storm and the noisy rush of the waves ! " 
All night long, in utter darkness, except for the blinding 
flashes, and swept continuously by the heavy seas, the 
crews of the tug-boats endeavoured to get near the 
stranded barque. It was a task full of tremendous risk. 
" Several times, as the stern fell from the top of a gigan- 
tic mountain of water, the heel of the tugs would touch 
bottom, shaking their entire hulls, making even the 
hearts of their intrepid crews tremble." Thus passed the 
night, nothing yet accomplished, or, apparently, capable 
of being accomplished. The daylight revealed those on 
board the wrecked vessel clinging for their lives to the 
masts and rigging, and exposed to the full fury of the 
biting blasts and the dashing seas. Yet nothing, abso- 
lutely nothing, could be done for the poor wretches. 
Moreover, as the coal was fast giving out, it was im- 
perative that the tugs should at once run to port for 

173 



ENGLISH BARQUES 

more before any effective help could be given. With a 
sigh the skippers gave the necessary orders. 

Who can imagine the feelings of the unhappy sailors 
thus left behind on the stranded ship when they saw 
the steamers turn away ! The poor souls were being 
abandoned to their fate, and what a fate ! Exposed to 
the awful hurricane and the roaring seas, to hunger and 
thirst, to cold and darkness — till when ? Till that 
moment, inevitable and not far distant, when their 
barque could stand no more, and should hurl them, 
mingled with its own fragments, into the voracious maw 
of the maddened ocean ! It is a marvel that any man 
of them all retained his sanity. 

When the crews of the tugs reached Monte Video and 
told their tale, the heart of the entire city went out to 
the sufferers away on the " English Bank." Something 
must be done to save them, cost what it might. But how? 
Though there were plenty of stout vessels, and even war- 
ships, in harbour, it would have been madness to send 
any of them out to sea in such a storm. As for the 
small lifeboats, the rocket-apparatus, and the like, they 
were all useless at that distance. The city was almost 
frantic that nothing could be done. 

But meanwhile the masters and crews of the Emperor 
and the Plata had been hastily coaling, and the tugs 
presently departed, none of the men having left the 
boats even to run home for a few minutes. It was 
amidst intense excitement among the watching crowds 
that the tugs steamed away again. The hardy sailors 
themselves were " guided by the sacred fire of the sub- 
lime valour which leads to heroism and renders mortals 
immortal ! " An anxious night passed for the people of 
the town, and on the morrow an eager look-out was kept 

174 



AND LA PLATAN SHOALS 

for the steamers. At length they were seen returning. 
Had they been successful? That was the question of 
questions just then, Alas, no! even those gallant, almost 
recklessly gallant, fellows had been unable to get near the 
ship, and for the second time the poor wretches clinging 
to her had seen with sickening dismay and hopeless dread 
the departure of the steamers. 

For a time Monte Video was, as it were, stunned by the 
awful position of things. Yet there was at least one 
man among the citizens who could not rest. It was 
Senor Antonio D. Lussich, a member of an eminent mer- 
cantile firm out there. This noble man, unable to go 
himself to the rescue, sent an urgent epistle to his ser- 
vants Preve and Borrazas — the steamers were the pro- 
perty of the firm — praising them for their splendid 
attempts, but imploring them to try yet once more. The 
skippers at once sent a reply that they would start as 
soon as possible, and, at four in the morning, the Emperor 
and the Plata for the third time left for the Bank, every 
man enthusiastic and believing in his heart that success 
would attend upon this third expedition. 

A crushing disappointment awaited them. " After four 
hours of rolling and tossing they reached their destina- 
tion, but alas ! empty space, sombre and terrifying, and 
foam-capped breakers boiling and surging over that im- 
mense stretch of hidden sands, were all that their longing 
eyes could discover. The vessel had disappeared, and 
with her, perhaps, the unfortunate crew, who in the 
throes of their prolonged agony had struggled till their 
last breath."' Well may Senor Lussich add of the heroic 
tug-boat men, " in all the wrath of the deepest execration 
they protested against the abominable cruelty of the sea 
that had accomplished such hateful work." 

*75 



ENGLISH BARQUES 

But the hope that " springs eternal in the human 
breast" did not quite abandon the heroic Monte Video 
men. They would at least steam round the Bank, if 
possible, in the hope of picking up any wretch who might 
still have life left in him. A man was sent to the look- 
out and the steamers ploughed their way through the 
storm, which had abated not one whit of its violence. 
Suddenly the look-out man gave a great shout of joy. 
He perceived sticking up out of the waters the masts of 
the missing vessel, the hull having sunk beneath the 
waves. He saw more, a number of men still hanging to 
the rigging, a thing almost incredible. The barque had 
been washed a long way from the spot where she had 
originally struck. The enthusiasm among the steamer 
crews rose to the intensest pitch. Their hearts beat 
within their breast with a violence that was painful, and 
with loud shouts the sailors crept nearer to the fatal spot, 
the sea becoming shallower as they progressed. 

The Emperor, captained by Borrazas, a splendid fellow, 
after many thumps, at length struck the bottom with such 
violence that it would plainly be sheer madness to go on. 
For the third time the skipper, heart-sick, had to turn 
away from the shipwrecked crew and leave further 
attempts to the Plata, a vessel of lighter draught, com- 
manded by Faccio, a worthy peer to Borrazas. 

With caution, and constantly sounding, Faccio ad- 
vanced. It was terribly risky work, but it was done. 
Within a hundred and fifty yards the Plata came — a 
hundred yards — sixty ! No nearer could the tug ap- 
proach ; whatever was to be done now would have to be 
by other means. The rescuers wanted no encouragement 
or stimulus to put forth their utmost exertions. There, 
on the bowsprit of the sunken vessel, hung desperately 

176 



AND LA PLATAN SHOALS 

the captain and eight other men, while four more were in 
the mizen cross-tree. For sixty-two hours had they 
endured all the terrors of the storm, with the awful never- 
ceasing apprehension that the next minute would be their 
last. It is to be remembered that this is no heightened 
story of fiction, but a plain statement of actual fact. 

The Plata was now anchored so that her boat, which 
was to be sent off, should be carried towards the wreck. 
The boat was launched, but a strong rope to keep it 
connected with the tug was paid out as required. Preve, 
one of the sailors, was very anxious to go in the skiff, but 
he was too valuable a sailor — he had a better acquaintance 
than the rest with the shoals and currents thereabouts — 
to be allowed to take the risk, and, bitterly disappointed, 
he had to give way to Franco, who splendidly justified 
the choice of his captain. Into the skiff at once Franco 
leapt, a cord round his waist as an extra safeguard ; if, as 
seemed almost inevitable, the little boat should be dashed 
to pieces, he at least might be drawn back to the Plata. 
Thus the " little nutshell of a boat " went on her danger- 
ous way, "at one moment seeming to touch the clouds 
and at the next to be buried in the abyss.'' 1 

The craft reached the sunken vessel near the mizen- 
mast, and Franco called on the four men clinging there 
to come down. It was impossible ; they could not 
descend to the boat and to safety, though hope had come 
again, if feebly, to their despairing souls. Franco did not 
hesitate, but clambered up to the assistance of the poor 
wretches. " Encouraging one, and holding up others, he 
helped down by the ratlines those four unfortunates, who, 
half fainting from exhaustion and shaking with cold, bore 
on their bodies indelible marks of their long martyrdom. 11 
Then carefully, cleverly, successfully the man helped his 
m 177 



ENGLISH BARQUES 

brother mariners into the boat. It was a splendid thing 
splendidly done. By signs giving the nine on the bow- 
sprit to understand that he would speedily fetch them 
also, Franco pushed off for the tug, his little craft unfitted 
to carry a heavier load. As for the rescued sailors, they 
strove to thank the noble fellow, but not a sound escaped 
from their parched throats. It was a touching sight when 
the poor men were lifted on board the Plata, to be 
received with mingled shouts of joy and broken sobs. 

Franco was off again instantly ; to no other would he 
give place. His was a far more difficult task this time. To 
reach the bowsprit he must coast along the side of the 
ship. But how? The lee side lay in confusion and 
projecting far into the sea, a tangled mass of broken mast 
and cordage and chain, while on the weather quarter the 
Platans little boat could not have lived for half a dozen 
seconds. But Franco, not to be beaten, with marvellous 
pluck and skill moved " carefully from one chain-plate to 
another, till he reached the cat -head, and from there the 
bowsprit." Under this he placed his boat, so as to make it 
easier for the sailors to drop into her, if they should prove 
to be capable of helping themselves at all. 

One of those on the bowsprit was the captain, a man 
with rough, bronzed features, but with a heart as tender 
as any woman's, as sailors 1 hearts not uncommonly are. 
He at once pointed to those he would have saved first, for 
he well understood that the boat could not carry the nine 
men at one trip. " I shall not leave the vessel till all the 
rest have left," the skipper declared, as Franco pushed off 
with five of the poor fellows. That these were received 
by the Plata men with enthusiastic joy and loving minis- 
trations, as the former batch had been, may well be 
imagined. 

178 



AND LA PLATAN SHOALS 

As for Franco, he is already on his way to the barque 
again. Another tossing sea and another dangerous creep 
along the vessel's side, and he is once more under the bow- 
sprit. Three of the remaining four are helped down, and 
lastly the captain, heart-broken, but overwhelmed with 
gratitude, also drops into the boat. The poor fellow 
waves his trembling hands in the direction of the ship in 
token of farewell ; perhaps she carried the whole fortune, 
now lost, which he had gathered for his wife and children. 

Thirteen lives saved in all ! There had been a fourteenth 
on board the Georgina, an English barque from Newport, 
for such the wrecked vessel proved to be. He was a lad of 
fifteen, and he had been struck by a wave, while he was 
attempting to pass from one part of the wreck to another, 
and swept helplessly away, to the keen distress of his 
comrades. This had occurred many hours before the Plata 
had been able to approach for the rescue. 

The tug at once started for the port, the sea as danger- 
ous as ever, as was presently shown in a startling way. 
A mighty billow suddenly raised the Plata high on its 
crest, and then as suddenly dropped her to the depths be- 
neath. Her keel crashed against the bottom, splintering 
the stern-post, The water at once rushed in, to the alarm 
of the crew. But the skipper did not lose his head for a 
moment. Giving the order to turn on full steam, in a 
twinkling he had the pumps working at top speed. It was 
a trying time, but the heroic exertions of the sailors had 
their reward. For full three hours the tug battled with 
the storm without and the water within, and at length 
landed her thirteen saved mortals at Monte Video, amidst 
such a scene of excitement and joy as the city has rarely 
witnessed. 

Well earned were the rewards sent by the British 

179 



ENGLISH BARQUES 

Government to the gallant rescuers — gold medal to 
Faccio, the skipper of the Plata, and to the intrepid 
Franco ; a silver medal for " gallantry " to Borrazas, the 
captain of the Emperor ; two pounds each to the Plata 
men, and one pound to those of the sister tug. Well 
deserved, too, were the words of unstinted praise spoken 
by the British Minister, who presented the rewards to the 
heroic seamen. And none assisted at the presentation 
ceremony with greater joy than Senor Lussich himself, 
the owner of the rescuing vessels, and the proud employer 
and friend of the sturdy recipients. 

From Celebrated Shipwrecks at Cape Polonio, off the English Bank, 
etc., by Antonio D. Lussich. (Translated by Henry C. Ayre.) 
Published (1894) by Turenne, Varzi and Co., 324 Uruguay Street, 
Monte Video, South America. By kind permission of the author. 



1 80 



CHAPTER XV 
A LONDON JACK-TAR 

James Choyce— Prentice on board whaler— Wooden guns ! — A risky- 
swimming lesson — Taken prisoner by the Spanish — A canoe 
seized — Upset — Sufferings from want of water — A raid on a water- 
carrier — A stream— Caught by the Spaniards— A fresh plan— The 
Lucky Escape— Mule-drivers attempt to lasso the sailors— A Spanish 
brig seized — A course set for Galapagos Islands — A drunken crew 
— Threats — Anxious days — A dark outlook for Choyce — "Land 
ho ! " — Free men at last. 



M 



ANY are the thrilling, and true, stories of seafaring 
life that have already been told, yet it is probable 
that quite as large a number remain yet to be 
told. Every now and then the narrative of some sturdy 
mariner of bygone days is published, and eagerly read, as 
is natural in a land where Sailor Jack is ever a favourite. 
Such a story is that of James Choyce, a typical British 
seaman of the days when Britain was defended by her 
I wooden walls." His varied adventures, and his num- 
berless escapes, make good reading, and Choyce had in 
full measure that characteristic quality of the British 
sailor of never knowing when he was beaten. 

Choyce was London born and bred, as we should 
reckon in our days, though he himself tells us he first saw 
the light " at a place called FincHey," a " few miles from 
London." His father was a farmer, but James had no 
mind to follow the plough, and accordingly one day he 

181 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

apprenticed himself, at the age of seventeen, to the master 
of a South Sea whaler, the London. 

After a fishing season spent in the South Atlantic and 
Antarctic seas, the London was returning to England in 
the company of another slow sailer, the Barbary. It was 
a time of general war in Europe — at the close of the 
eighteenth century — and it behoved mariners to keep a 
sharp look-out for enemies. The captain of the London, 
Choyce^ vessel, made preparations for any possible attack. 
His fourteen four-pounders were in good order, and he 
painted his ship afresh, so as to give the whaler something 
of the smart appearance of a warship. The Barbary, on 
the other hand, had but a couple of guns. The two 
skippers therefore determined to make more, but of 
wood ! Fourteen were to be for the Barbary, and four 
others to supplement the armament of the companion 
ship. Here were two vessels, then, carrying eighteen and 
sixteen guns respectively — a formidable couple ! To use 
these wooden guns " they knotted old ropeyarns and 
balled them up, and in each ball was a six-pound cartridge 
of gunpowder. When they were to be used, a hole was 
made with a marlinespike in the ball of yarn and primed 
with powder. It was then tied to the muzzle of a wooden 
gun, and by setting fire to them they would make as 
much report as a six-pounder ! " 

It was not many days before this powerful armament 
seemed likely to be requisitioned for service. A big 
Dutch East Indiaman, as the Englishmen took her to be, 
hove in sight. As Holland was one of the countries 
hostile to us at that time, an attack by the Dutchmen 
might be expected. After consultation the two captains 
arranged that the Barbary should keep at a fair distance 
from the enemy, to prevent the wooden cannon from 

182 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

being detected, while the London was to engage at closer 
quarters. Presently the skipper of the latter, getting on 
the Indiaman's lee beam, fired across her bows, at the 
same time hoisting the American flag. The stranger, 
however, kept on her course, showing no colours. The 
Englishman thereupon gave chase, and, overhauling the 
other, fired again. On this the stranger flew the Portu- 
guese colours and hove to, this to the no small satisfac- 
tion of the British skippers, for Portugal was a friendly 
State. It was perhaps as well that those wooden guns 
were after all not required to be brought into actual use ! 
It is possible that a century ago Finchley was not a 
great place for swimmers ; anyhow, Choyce had reached 
the age of twenty, and had been three or four years a 
sailor, before he could swim. How he learnt, in one lesson 
and without instructor, he tells us. It was in the Gulf of 
Guayaquil, in South America. One day the surf upset a 
boat in which were Choyce and other sailors of his crew. 
As the bay was full of both sharks and sawfish, and the 
spot a quarter of a mile out, it may be supposed that each 
swimmer struck in mighty haste for the shore. Choyce, 
the only non-swimmer, was left behind. He seized the 
boat's warp, and clambered upon the bottom of the 
capsized craft, but only to be washed off again and again. 
He hung on to the rope for dear life, and an hour was 
passed in this desperate position, the boat floating parallel 
with the shore, instead of towards it, as the unfortunate 
fellow had hoped. At last it was borne in upon the young 
sailor that the sooner he learnt to swim the better. So, 
still holding fast to the rope, he attempted a few strokes. 
To his delight he found himself able to keep his head 
above water, and at length, in his own plucky way, and 
with lively apprehensions that the sharks might at any 

183 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

moment arrive on the scene, Choyce let go the cord, seizing 
the instant when a great wave, rolling shorewards, came, 
and made straight for land. His mates were watching 
him from the beach. The lad's fortune was equal to his 
pluck, and from that day Choyce was a swimmer. It was 
a fortunate thing for him that no sea monster came to 
disturb his lesson. 

Not long afterwards Choyce was taken prisoner by the 
Spanish, along with the rest of his shipmates, and no small 
part of his subsequent adventures, for a time at least, are 
concerned with his various and numerous attempts, 
successful or the reverse, to escape. It says everything 
for the grit and determination of the man when it is 
related that it was not till the seventh attempt he got 
clear away. His first attempt was on this wise. He and 
his companions were set to work in the fields in the neigh- 
bourhood of the shore, and the sight of the wide ocean 
continually kept his mind revolving plans of evasion and 
escape. He worked steadily towards this end, beginning 
by providing a number of bladders in which to carry not 
only water, but his flint and steel, and so forth. His 
mates were all ready enough to j oin with him in talk, but 
when it came to actual effort, all hung back, except one. 

In the middle of the night the two men crept down to 
the beach, where were a number of canoes with Indians 
sleeping in them. The risk the sailors ran was great, for 
there were many dogs keeping guard. Nothing daunted, 
the Englishmen crept in and out among the canoes in the 
hope of meeting with one unoccupied. Luckily, though 
the dogs barked a good deal, the Indians did not rouse 
sufficiently to perceive the intruders. At last finding a 
canoe empty, the two pushed off as silently as possible in 
her. They were dismayed when the occupant of the next 

184 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

boat began to talk. However, the man was too sleepy to 
say anything more than " Comrade, you are going too 
soon ; it is not more than the middle of the night," to 
which remark the Englishmen naturally made no reply. 

Reaching the part of the shore where the rest of the 
sailors were awaiting them, the adventurous pair took 
their mates on board, only to meet with early disaster, 
however. Not twenty yards from the beach the canoe 
upset with its too heavy load. All struck out for the 
shore, but many of the men had lost their boots, and, 
what was worse, several of the precious bladders of water 
were lost. The greater part of the men were inclined to 
sit down in helpless despair, but that did not suit Choyce, 
who, righting the boat, went off with three of his com- 
rades on an enterprise that was almost more hazardous 
still. There lay, near the custom-house, and three hundred 
yards from the shore, a fine twelve-oared boat, and to 
get possession of this desirable craft Choyce was about to 
make a plucky attempt. He himself sat in the bows of 
the canoe as they rowed to the spot, ready with his 
dagger to stab any Spaniard there might be in the boat, 
so as to prevent him from raising an alarm. Luckily 
there was none to deal with, and the four sailors stole 
back with their prize. Embarking the rest, the party 
pushed off once more, taking four blankets to act as sails. 
They were in a desperate hurry to get away before the 
first signs of dawn, and it was now two o'clock, yet they 
turned back for one of their comrades, who had been 
afraid at first, but who, when they had put out a few 
yards, begged piteously for a place in the boat. The 
men rowed with all their might, and by nine o'clock were 
seven leagues from Callao. Then during the remainder of 
the day the tired sailors rested, the heat being intense. 

185 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

So far all was well enough. But now the very scanty 
provisioning of their boat began to set them thinking 
seriously on their position. Especially were they alarmed 
by the rapidly decreasing supply of fresh water. Choyce^s 
companions began to blame him for bringing them away 
to endure hardships and sufferings, and some of them 
made very unpleasant remarks, not without dark hints of 
what might happen if the case became extreme. Choyce 
reminded them that it was only by concord and united 
effort that they could hope to escape at all. He pro- 
posed, he informed them, to run for the Galapagos 
Islands, where an English or an American ship might 
almost certainly be met with. On this the men took 
heart, and, placing one oar as a mast and another for a 
yard, they made a sail by fastening the blankets together. 

To procure water was now the all-important thing, 
and the men were ready to run a good deal of risk to get 
it. Presently spying a house on the cliff, it was agreed 
that some of the men should go ashore in search of the 
great necessity. Six of the sailors went, the others re- 
maining with the boat. The house had three inmates, a 
man and two lads, and these had by them some cala- 
bashes full of water. So maddened with thirst were the 
search party that the majority of them would have drunk 
up the stock of water on the spot, regardless of their 
comrades left in the boat. Choyce would stand no non- 
sense of this sort, and insisted on all sharing alike. The 
men were mightily refreshed by the welcome draughts, 
and went on again more cheerfully. They managed, all 
the same, to drift out of their course a good deal during 
the following night, and morning showed them to be 
entirely out of sight of land. 

Now began a time of terrible suffering for the run- 

186 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

aways. They had hardly anything to eat ; their thirst, 
after hours of rowing in the tropical heat, was as torment- 
ing as ever ; they were weary and exhausted, and they 
were scorched by the fierce rays of the sun. They lay 
down in the bottom of the boat, spread the sail over 
them to keep off the sun, and tried to sleep, hoping to 
find a breeze had sprung up by the time they should 
awake. A slight wind did come in the afternoon, but it 
lasted only a very short time, and another night of dead 
calm ensued. Fortunately for the poor fellows a thick 
mist arose, and they stripped to the skin to get the 
benefit of the cool moisture. Their bodies were burning 
as with fire, both inside and out. The relief thus gained 
cheered their drooping spirits a little, and they took to 
the oars again, half of the men rowing while the other 
half rested. But to their dismay they found when day- 
light came that the land was fully twenty miles away, 
and many of the crew gave way again to despair. 

Their position was certainly serious. " Our faces were 
scorched as red as scarlet, and our lips and noses burnt to 
blisters, and some complained that their tongues were 
swelled and as dry as chips. None of us complained of 
hunger, but our thirst was so great that some of my com- 
rades talked of jumping overboard." Then somebody 
bethought him of the plan of wetting their shirts with 
sea-water and putting them on again. The experiment 
was tried, and was found to answer so well that it was fre- 
quently resorted to. In spite of this alleviation, however, 
their plight was a bad one, and one of their number 
began to rave, and had to be tied down to prevent him 
from jumping overboard in his madness. 

A day or two passed, but at length the crew ventured 
to draw near to the shore, eagerly looking out for signs 

187 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

of a stream. They were about to land in one place, but 
fortunately just in time observed a number of men with 
spears hiding behind a bank. The boat was hastily pushed 
off again, and the men coasted along for a few miles, till 
they came to a bay into which a river could be seen 
emptying itself. Desperate now, the sailors sprang 
ashore, tying the boat to a tree, and leaving in it the sick, 
light-headed man. With a mad rush they made for the 
stream, frantic with joy. They could not drink enough ; 
some waded in up to their waists, some even rolled in the 
cool water. At last, with calabashes filled, they tore 
themselves from this delightful stream and made for the 
boat once more. Like a clap of thunder came on them 
the sight they saw there. A band of thirty or forty 
Spaniards were hauling the boat up the beach. Here was 
an end to all their sufferings and all their efforts ! No 
other boat was to be seen, and to run into the interior 
meant almost certain death from wild beasts or serpents, 
even if they escaped capture for any length of time. To 
yield with a good grace was the only thing the English- 
men could do, especially as the Spaniards were advancing 
in fighting order. 

A long series of imprisonments and labours, varied by 
many an attempt to escape, came for Choyce and his 
comrades. Disappointment succeeded disappointment in 
sickening fashion. But the man never lost heart, never 
relaxed his efforts to get himself free. At last came what 
seemed a more promising opportunity. A number of the 
Englishmen were employed at Callao in breaking up 
an old ship. They noted that they were left entirely to 
themselves in the work, their Spanish taskmasters never 
visiting the hulk. Here was Choyce's chance. He began 
to conceal in the half-dismantled ship stores of bread and 

1 88 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

water, with a quantity of rope and other things likely to 
be wanted. Watching their opportunity, they seized a 
small boat, one Sunday at darkening, and furtively shipped 
into her the articles stored in the vessel. All was ready 
for a start, but at the last moment five of the Englishmen 
refused to go. They were not ready to stand to what 
they had sworn over a glass of spirits, and Choyce hurried 
away with the remaining fifteen, fearful lest others of the 
company might desert at the last moment. It was the 
10th of August, 1800. 

Hoisting their sail, they were soon well out at sea, and 
all were very merry. The boat was christened the Lucky 
Escape, and Choyce was elected commander. Next day, 
off Chancay, they resolutely boarded a brig carrying ten 
men. But the vessel was found to be of little use to the 
runaways, being a slow sailer. Moreover, boats were 
observed putting off from the shore, so Choyce and his 
mates left the brig and made off with all sail set. 

After coasting along for some time they spied a string 
of mules with only four men in charge, and dashing to the 
shore the sailors left the boat with a few of their mates 
and made for the mule-drivers. The animals were urged 
to their full speed, but one lagged behind and was 
captured. To the disgust of the sailors the burden was 
found to consist only of salt. The drivers, Spaniards, 
and well mounted, now began to retaliate, flinging their 
lassoes among the Englishmen. The danger was great ; 
had a loop encircled any one of them, the unfortunate 
man would have been dragged by the mule at full gallop 
to his death, torn to pieces along the rough ground. The 
only thing was to have ready their knives with which 
instantly to cut the lasso if it caught. 

For half an hour this curious fight went on, the 

189 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

Englishmen dodging the lassoes, throwing themselves 
frequently to the ground to do so, all the while making 
for the boat. The Spaniards on their mules pursued, 
jeering at and execrating the sailors to their hearts 1 
content. Choyce was glad to get every man of his party 
safe on board the boat again, and to make off, even with- 
out the booty he had reckoned on. 

Some days later, off Gran Chaco, the Englishmen per- 
ceived a brig at anchor in the roads, and at once deter- 
mined to make an effort to secure her. They took down 
mast and sail, and in the dusk crept up to the vessel, 
intending at midnight to board her. The weapons avail- 
able for this purpose were certainly not of any great 
account ; they consisted of thick sticks only, except in 
the case of the skipper himself. He had a small dirk, 
and by tying this to the end of a stick he made a service- 
able spear. The Spaniards, after their usual fashion, 
were sleeping on deck, and knew nothing till the 
attackers began to swarm on board. As it happened, 
the crew of the brig were likewise without weapons for 
the most part, save billets of wood. 

A lively scene followed. Bit by bit the Spaniards were 
forced back under the poop, some of them fleeing to the 
cabin. The rest of the fellows Choyce and his mates 
drove under hatches. Presently some of the men in the 
cabin were found to be dropping through the windows 
and swimming to the ship's boat fastened astern. Before 
they could be stopped they had cut the rope and made 
off. Choyce did not greatly trouble himself about these 
few, knowing well that they could not land till morning 
light. The victors now began to see to the wounded, 
three of whom had been badly hurt by the improvised 
spear. It was just as well, Choyce thought, that his 

190 




A Fight with Lassoes 

Choyce and his companions attacked the muleteers, but found that the mules were 
carrying not water but salt. The Spaniards retaliated by trying to lasso the sailors, 
who had to use their knives, and even throw themselves on the ground to avoid the 
fatal loop. 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

comrades had had no weapon of the kind, or there would 
have been none of the brig's crew left alive. 

The Englishmen lost no time in putting the prisoners — 
for such the crew were — into the vessel's long-boat, with 
a supply of water and provisions. Nineteen Spaniards 
were sent adrift in this boat, and six others had escaped 
in the smaller craft. The captain, the mate, and the 
supercargo happened to be on shore at the time. Here, 
therefore, was Choyce, with his small boat and his hand- 
ful of men, in full possession of a barque carrying a crew 
of not far short of thirty. The vessel was the San 
Pedro, her chief cargo consisting of spirits {aguardiente) 
and wine, an unfortunate thing, as it turned out later 
on. 

Choyce was again chosen captain ; indeed, he was the 
only one of the English sailors who had any knowledge 
of navigation. He had no charts, no instruments, no 
tables, but he set a course to the best of his ability for 
the Galapagos Islands, as he had done on other occasions 
when he had attempted escape. The superabundance of 
ardent spirits, however, soon began to tell. The men 
grew idle, fractious, insubordinate, and finally quarrel- 
some, and the skipper had a heavy time of it. Worse 
and worse became the intoxication among the greater 
portion of the crew, while, on the other hand, to the 
alarm of all, the water supply was fast giving out. When 
Choyce proposed to restrict the daily allowance per man, 
the sailors became mutinous, and, before long, threatening. 

The young captain assured his men that with reasonable 
good luck they ought to make Galapagos in three days. 
But that time passed over, and still no glimpse of land 
appeared. It began to be probable that they had missed 
the group of islands altogether, a thing not at all un- 

191 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

likely, when the men at the helm were generally too 
drunk to know clearly what they were doing. Sometimes 
a man would be found to be steering at one time due 
north and a few minutes later due west, the steersman 
quite unaware that he had deviated from the course set. 
The skipper was in a great rage and rated the fellows 
soundly, saying that but for the wretched steering the 
brig would already have reached her destination. The 
only effect was to bring down on Choyce the threat, 
evidently seriously uttered, that if in three days more 
land was not sighted, the captain would be flung over- 
board. Choyce's thoughts went back to Columbus, whose 
men, on the first voyage to the West Indies, had made 
use of a similar threat to him. And Choyce put before 
his men much the same sort of argument that the great 
navigator had done. To throw the skipper overboard, 
he urged, would be to lose the only man at all capable 
of navigating the ship, and the step certainly would not 
bring fresh water for the parched crew. The fellows saw 
the reasonableness of the master's argument, and for the 
future behaved a little better. 

Nevertheless, it was with some trepidation that the 
captain saw the third day come and go without bringing 
the least sight of land. Another day wore away, and 
yet another, and matters were beginning to look bad 
again. However, Choyce fancied, on the evening of the 
fifth day, that land was not far off, and he sat up all 
night to watch for it. wt As my fear had been great, 11 he 
tells us, "so great was my satisfaction when, on the 
29th of August, about four in the morning, I spied land 
to the north-west, and communicated the joyful news to 
my companions by shouting out as loud as I could 
holloa, ' Land ho ! land ho ! 1 They were mostly sleep- 

192 



A LONDON JACK-TAR 

ing on the quarter-deck, and soon joined me to feast 
their eyes on the joyful sight. 11 The land proved to be 
Chatham Island, one of the Galapagos group. 

Thus the adventurous London Jack-tar, after six man- 
ful but unsuccessful previous attempts to escape from the 
enemy's hands, on the seventh met with the reward due 
to his pluck, his resourcefulness, and his dogged per- 
severance. 

From The Log of a Jack-tar, by Commander Cameron. London, 
T. Fisher Unwin. By kind permission of the publisher. 



193 



CHAPTER XVI 
CROSSING THE LINE 

Crossing the line in former days— On board an East Indiaman, in 
1814 — Nearing the Equator — A visit from the representative of 
the sailors — Three "razors" — An obstinate steerage passenger — 
Neptune and his car — Amphitrite and the Tritons — The ship's 
doctor the first victim — The cabin passenger called up — " I paid 
for No. 1 " — Not to be drawn — Retaliation — Chased and soused — 
The steerage passenger — Strikes out — A rush for the captain's 
cabin— Skipper interferes — A recalcitrant victim — A well-wielded 
trident — Ducked in the sea— Almost drowned — Broken heads — 
The vigorous resister comes off triumphant. 

THE ceremonies observed by sailors in former days 
in the case of those who crossed the Equator for 
the first time would seem to have varied from the 
mildest of practical joking to the roughest of horse- 
play and even the infliction of indignities and serious 
injury. The experiences of one gentleman, a passenger 
to India, are graphically related by himself, and his 
account may be taken as entirely trustworthy, though 
he withholds his own name and that of the ship. 

It was in the spring of 1814 that this gentleman left 
Portsmouth, in an East Indiaman of a thousand tons 
burden. There were eighteen passengers in all, he the 
youngest of them. One of the cabin passengers was a 
fat old general, on whom many practical jokes were 
played, from the very beginning of the voyage. One day 
some lively fellow or other smeared the inside of the old 

194 



CROSSING THE LINE 

gentleman's hat-crown with tar, and the unsuspecting 
veteran presently put it on. Soon, to the intense amuse- 
ment of the company, the tar began to trickle down his 
cheeks. The general, thinking that it was merely per- 
spiration that was running down, frequently mopped his 
face with his handkerchief, and, strange to say, without 
discovering the trick, at least for a considerable time. 

Leaving these matters, however, we may pass on to 
the time when the East Indiaman was nearing the line. 
A whisper went round among the passengers that on the 
present occasion the sailors meant to perform all the 
ancient rites and usages in the completest manner. 
Later in the day this rumour was found to be fully 
justified. Our narrator, the youngest of the passengers, 
in common with the rest, received a visit from one of the 
crew, a big burly fellow already half drunk. The man 
pulled out three implements he called razors, really 
pieces of iron of varying degrees of roughness and 
jaggedness, and inquired with which of these the gentle- 
man preferred to be shaved. The victim looked doubt- 
fully at the tools : the first was like a coarse saw ; the 
next was not quite so rough ; and the last was a com- 
paratively innocent implement. 

" Since you are so polite as to offer me a choice," was 
the reply, "I should prefer the instrument with the 
smoothest edge." 

The sailor intimated that such a privilege and honour 
could only be bought at a high figure, whereupon the 
passenger handed him a guinea. To the young man's 
chagrin he was informed that that was the price of 
number two razor only. Said the sailor, " I never apply 
number three to the chin of a mortal for less than two 
guineas and a pint of rum." 

i95 



CROSSING THE LINE 

The two guineas and a bottle of brandy were accord- 
ingly given, and the passenger congratulated himself that 
he would thus get off easily. He did not know what was 
in store for him. 

The Jack-tar, in the course of his round, came to 
another young fellow, a steerage passenger, but this man 
asserted that he had crossed the line before, and was 
therefore exempt from the customary penalties. The 
sailor flatly refused to believe this, and angrily demanded 
money, a demand the young man as angrily refused to 
meet. The seaman finally left, vowing vengeance on the 
luckless passenger, and swearing that he should be shaved 
with number one, the saw-like instrument. Thus the 
round of the ship was made, and a list of victims drawn 
up, the only exemptions allowed being in the few cases 
where the captain could certify that the person in ques- 
tion had really crossed the line before. 

The ship was now close to the equinoctial line, and the 
passengers were at once ordered, in the rudest fashion, 
to go below, where they were confined under hatches 
with a rough seaman to keep guard over them. The 
skipper had evidently given up control of his ship for 
the time being, so peremptory were the orders of the 
tars. It was plain, too, that no very pleasant experi- 
ences were in store for the candidates for Neptune's rites. 
Some of the party tried to laugh off the whole thing as 
a joke, but others were becoming uneasy, to say the least 
of it. All had taken care to don the oldest garments 
they could command. While the victims were thus 
penned under hatches, great preparations were being made 
on deck, as the din and bustle overhead abundantly told. 

Noon arrived, and with it the Equator, as it happened, 
a fact announced by the blowing of a long tin horn from 

196 



CROSSING THE LINE 

the forecastle. Then Neptune himself was drawn forward 
on a gun-carriage. The dread ruler of the sea was a big 
strapping fellow standing fully six feet three without his 
boots, who on ordinary days acted as ship's armourer or 
blacksmith. He was already pretty well primed with grog, 
but bore himself with some dignity. He carried a tri- 
dent of iron which he had himself forged. Neptune's 
car was a water-butt, and it was drawn by eight Tritons, 
otherwise Jack-tars. His queen, Amphitrite, was repre- 
sented by a short, thick-set sailor. As for Neptune him- 
self, " the upper part of his body was naked, and painted 
a nondescript colour, between blue and green ; several 
long strips of horse-hair hanging over his shoulders and 
sweeping the edges of his triumphal car. His face was 
so bedaubed with paint that not a feature could be dis- 
tinguished. His right hand held the trident ; his left 
was stuffed most majestically into his breeches' pocket." 
The Tritons were truly fearful monsters, and all so tipsy 
that they could scarce keep their feet at all. Amphitrite 
stood by the side of her lord, " with a pipe in her mouth, 
from which she propelled volumes of smoke." The barber 
stood by, his razors and a huge brush on a broomstick 
ready. 

Before these imposing royalties the skipper prostrated 
himself with a profound reverence, and desired to know 
the king's wishes. His majesty claimed full sway over 
the ship and all in her, the vessel being now in the very 
centre of his dominions. The passengers, who had been 
allowed on deck to see the sight, were now driven below 
again, and the ceremonies began. 

The first "candidate" was summoned, and though some 
of the rest affected to laugh, there was a perceptible 
quivering among the unfortunates. It was the surgeon 

197 



CROSSING THE LINE 

who was thus early called upon, and he was blindfolded 
and roughly dragged on deck, the Tritons jeering at him 
and making coarse jests at his expense. What happened 
to the doctor above the others could not tell, and a time 
of suspense followed for them. They were anything but 
cheered by the banter of the fellow who acted as gaoler. 
He gloated over the prospective sufferings of the party, 
sufferings he described in language too graphic to be 
pleasant. 

It was not till the fifth call that the turn came of our 
young cabin passenger, the narrator of the story. He 
tried to assume an air of indifference, and even to laugh, 
but all the time he could distinctly hear every beat of 
his heart, so loud and violent were the pulsations. His 
eyes had been bandaged, but not very closely, and he was 
able to see fairly well what was going on. An immense 
water- tub, with a plank laid across it, stood on the deck, 
and on this the victim had to sit. The barber, by this 
time almost too tipsy to act at all, was going to use the 
roughest of the razors, the terrible number one, but the 
gentleman at once reminded him that he had paid for 
the luxury of being shaved with number three. 

" You say true, my lad," hiccupped the barber; "I took 
you for the land-jack who pretended that he had crossed 
the line, and refused to pay the toll. When it comes to 
his turn, won't I harrow his face to a pretty tune ! " 

The barber took up his brush and dipped it into the 
"lather," a horrible mixture of tar, grease, and more 
nauseous things still. He held the well-filled brush just 
in front of the novice's mouth, and then asked him his 
opinion on the barber thus far. Our narrator was not to 
be drawn, and kept his mouth firmly shut. He well knew 
that the instant he had opened it, the brush with its vile 

198 



CROSSING THE LINE 

compound would have been thrust into it, and that to the 
intense merriment of the drunken sailors around. A second 
question followed, but elicited no more reply than the 
first had. The victim began to think he had played the 
part of passive resister quite long enough. 

Suddenly, while the barber was staggering and almost 
falling prone on the deck, the gentleman sprang up and 
gave the man a push. While the sailor fell with a lurch 
flat on his back the passenger made a bolt. His spirited 
move availed him nothing ; instantly he was seized by one 
of the Tritons and flung headlong into the tub. The 
water in it was frightfully foul, but he was hardly allowed 
to push even his head above the surface for breath. The 
moment the unlucky man rose he was ruthlessly forced 
under again, till he was all but suffocated. 

How much longer this treatment might have been con- 
tinued it would have been hard to say ; but by this time 
the barber had regained his feet, and in a mighty rage 
declared that he had been defrauded of his privilege by 
this recalcitrant passenger. He vowed he meant to have 
satisfaction. Things began to look bad for the young 
gentleman. But at this point the officer of the watch 
interfered, and, after much squabbling, the shaving part 
of the business was omitted, much to the disgust of the 
grumbling and furious barber. A severe ducking was 
substituted, and at last this candidate was suffered to go. 
As he turned away the captain threw a pailful of sea- 
water over him, an affront he was at first inclined to 
resent. But as it cleansed him considerably, the passenger 
grew grateful for this final sousing. He moved only a 
yard or two away, and sat on the poop to watch the 
remainder of the proceedings, glad enough to have saved 
his face " from certain excoriation. 1 "' 

199 



CROSSING THE LINE 

Victim after victim was brought up, and much the 
same sort of thing was witnessed each time, except that 
for a while none of them showed any resistance as our 
hero had done, but submitted to whatever the tipsy and 
brutal tars thought fit to inflict. The sight of it all 
began to disgust the spectator on the poop. 

The turn came now of the steerage passenger who had 
refused to pay blackmail to the sailors, and our narrator 
fully expected a scene when that individual was called up. 
The expected for once did not fail to happen. The 
young fellow was dragged to the spot in the roughest 
possible way, but, strange to say, he bore it all quietly. 
As in the case of the others he was made to sit on the 
plank across the water-tub, and, as before, the barber 
held the brush before his mouth while the stock question 
was asked. As soon as the victim's lips were parted to 
speak, the brush was thrust between them, causing up- 
roarious laughter among the men. It was clear that they 
meant to bait this customer long and severely. The 
barber now proceeded to spread the lather, and covered 
the man's face, to his very eyes, with the loathsome mess. 
They evidently looked on the young man as wanting in 
both wit and spirit, and were prepared to go all lengths 
with him. The victim still sat quietly, offering no 
resistance. 

Now the operator took up razor number one, with its 
huge gaps showing conspicuously, and with a great sweep 
drew it across the man's cheek and chin. The effect was 
serious indeed, and the cabin passenger looking on from 
the poop saw the blood flowing in streams from the ugly 
gashes. The torture must have been excruciating to the 
poor fellow. But the game had gone too far, and a 
change came in the programme as sudden as it was decided. 



CROSSING THE LINE 

" The lad suddenly slid from his plank, tore the bandage 
from his eyes, and, striking the barber on the forehead 
with his whole force, laid him flat upon the deck. He was 
immediately surrounded, but, seizing the trident from the 
grasp of Neptune, who was so stupefied from intoxication 
that he could scarcely hold it, the ill-used youth wielded 
it with such lusty energy that he laid several of those who 
attempted to capture him beside their prostrate com- 
panion the shaver." This plucky and vigorous attack on 
the part of the young man from the steerage must have 
been truly refreshing to our narrator sitting not far away ; 
and the sufferer had not finished yet. With his trident he 
speedily cleared a way through the crowd of sailors, some 
of them falling hastily back to avoid the lusty blows that 
laid others of the band prostrate. He had soon made 
good his passage as far as " the cuddy door, which, it 
being locked on the inside, he burst open with a stroke of 
his hand, and, proceeding to the captain's cabin, demanded 
admittance. This door was likewise locked, but with one 
blow of his foot he made a clear passage, and stood before 
the captain with his face begrimed and bleeding." He 
proceeded to vent his indignation on the skipper in no 
measured terms. " I hold you responsible," he said ; " I 
have been insulted and ill-used by your men, and I here 
demand reparation from you for this injury ! " 

The captain was by this time no little frightened, and 
offered the young man a thousand apologies. He declared 
he had never intended that things should go to the length 
the sailors had carried them. Then he rushed on deck 
and loudly demanded that the young man should be 
ill-treated no more. The sailors growled a good deal, but 
submitted, and the steerage passenger, triumphant to that 
extent, retired to wash himself and to plaster up his 

201 



CROSSING THE LINE 

bleeding gashes. Had this sturdy young fellow been the 
first, or one of the first, to be operated upon, it is more 
than probable that the after proceedings would have 
suffered considerable modification. 

There remained some of the crew to be dealt with, 
however, such men, that is, as were now crossing the 
Equator for the first time. The skipper left his drunken 
company to their own devices, with the result that still 
rougher usage was inflicted on the unlucky tars. All 
were stripped to the waist, and the lather was com- 
pounded of still more offensive ingredients. Man after 
man came away with tears streaming down his face from 
the agony he was enduring. Yet for a time no resistance 
was made by any victim. It would have been a marvel, 
however, had no man of them all showed fight, and 
presently there came a fellow of the right stamp. He 
was a finely-built and athletic seaman, and he flatly 
refused to go through the performance. He soon made 
things lively. 

He began by upsetting Neptune and his car without 
ceremony ; then, striking out vigorously with his fists, he 
floored several of the Tritons, and got clean away. 
Neptune's immediate retainers and attendants were, in 
truth, too drunk to stop this active and determined young 
fellow. But the crew generally were not disposed to let 
him off thus easily, and the more sober among them gave 
chase. Escape within the narrow confines of a ship was 
impossible, and the man was presently caught. He 
fought like a tiger, but was overpowered at last, and 
hauled on deck again. A rope was put round his waist, 
and he was pulled up to the yard-arm ; thence he was 
dropped into the sea, no effort being made to hoist him 
up again. It seemed as if the affair were about to end in 

202 







Catching a Tartar 

A steerage passenger, instead of submitting to the rites, seized Neptune's trident and 
soon cleared a way for himself to the captain's cabin. 



CROSSIXG THE LINE 

sheer murder. In the nick of time the skipper and his 
officers, forced to intervene, rushed to the spot, and 
ordered the fellows to draw up the poor victim of their 
ill-usage. The crew were vastly disposed to rebel, but 
gave way, and the man was hoisted on board and laid on 
the deck unconscious and almost dead. 

This might have been thought to be the end of the 
fray, but that was by no means the case ; the victim had 
still to be reckoned with. He was removed below, and 
after a space came round. His recovery brought an 
immediate renewal of the sensation for the crew, and 
furnished what must have been an amusing and a highly 
gratifying scene for the passengers. Certainly our nar- 
rator enjoved the spectacle, and was delighted when the 
brutality was repaid with interest, and when the avenger 
of his own and others 1 wrongs scored so splendidly. 

" Xo sooner had he recovered from the effects of his 
cruel bath than he made his appearance among his 
drunken companions, and, tearing off the swabs from 
Neptune's and the barber's brows, he seized each by the 
hair and dashed their heads together with such violence 
that they both fell speechless upon the quarter-deck. He 
then belaboured the drunken Tritons with such earnest- 
ness that several fell prostrate beneath the might of his 
muscular arm. This created a general tumult, which 
was not allayed before more than one broken head had 
been committed to the charge of the surgeon. The 
champion in this affray finally retired without a scratch, 
for he had fortunately escaped the infliction of the 
razor." 

The u crossing the line ceremonies M came to an abrupt 
and decisive termination after this, as may well be 
believed. The remaining " candidates ™ escaped entirely 

203 



CROSSING THE LINE 

through the prowess of the athletic sailor, for the 
skipper, alarmed at the length to which matters had 
gone, effectively interfered, to put a stop to the proceed- 
ings. It was not before time. 

Needless to repeat, these grotesque performances have 
in our times become less formidable, if still sometimes 
amusing, affairs than they were wont to be in the days of 
the old East Indiamen. 



204 



CHAPTER XVII 
A SHIP ON FIRE 

The Amazon on her first voyage — Heated bearings — An ominous 
misfortune — " Fire ! " in the middle of the night — Rush on deck — 
Engines cannot be stopped — Hose and pumps destroyed — " To the 
boats ! " — Terrible disaster in the launching — Third and fourth at- 
tempts — Mother and child cling to the thwarts — Boat launched at 
last — Lifeboat safely off— She picks up five men from the dingy — 
The end of the Amazon — Sufferings of those in the boats — A 
brutal captain — One boat-load picked up and carried to Plymouth 
— Another to Brest — A third boat found next day — A fourth 
batch of survivors landed a fortnight later — The loss of life — 
Wreck of the Amazon a memorable one — Heroism of the ship's 
officers. 

FEW disasters at sea can be more appalling than the 
burning to destruction of a fine ship crowded with 
human beings. Certainly the imagination can con- 
ceive nothing more terrible, and the accounts of such 
would generally, in their intensity of horror, be too 
shocking to read were it not that often — nay, almost 
always — the dreadful story shows some striking example 
of heroism and sinking of self, shows humanity at its 
best and noblest, in fact. The number of ships burnt at 
sea, even during the past century, to go no farther back, 
is unfortunately too great to be counted. But some of 
these disasters will long live in the memory of men. 
Such are the destruction of the Kent, the Austria, the 
Ocean Monarch, and the Amazon. The story of the loss 
of these is in every case a thrilling one — thrilling for its 

205 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

awful horrors, and thrilling for its examples of sublime 
heroism and almost superhuman effort. We may select 
that of the Amazon. 

This was a fine timber-built ship, the largest of its 
kind that had up to that time ever been turned out of 
our English shipyards. She was on her first voyage, a 
voyage destined to be also her last. The Amazon was 
finished in what elderly folk still call "the Exhibition 
Year," that is, 1851, but it was not till January 2nd, 
1852, that she left Southampton on her first voyage to 
the West Indies. The vessel was a very large one, 
according to the notions of those days, her length fully 
300 feet. She was a costly ship, and magnificently fitted 
up. Great expectations were formed respecting this fine 
vessel. She carried 161 persons in all, of whom about a 
third were passengers. Captain Symonds, her commander, 
was a splendid fellow, as subsequent events abundantly 
showed, and this was also the case with many of his sub- 
ordinate officers. It is worth noting that one of the 
passengers was Mr. Warburton, the world-famous author 
of The Crescent and the Cross. Another was a Mr. 
Neilson, a man as gallant as he was helpful and skilled in 
his profession of engineer. 

The ship had a hearty send-off from the crowds 
gathered to see her start, and as for the passengers, they 
were delighted that they had been able to secure places in 
so fine a steamer. But their self-congratulations were 
damped when, only a few miles out, she suddenly stopped, 
and the rumour ran round that it was because the bear- 
ings of the engines had become too hot. Too hot ! and 
but a very minute fraction of the long voyage as yet 
accomplished, and even that under easy steaming ! The 
captain explained that in the case of new machinery 

206 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

there was commonly a little overheating of the bearings 
at first, but that presently all would go well. This re- 
moved the uneasiness the majority of the passengers felt, 
but it did not satisfy the engineer passenger, Mr. Neilson, 
And Mr. Warburton, a most experienced traveller, re- 
garded the circumstance as ominous. However, after a 
stop of an hour or two for the machinery to cool down, a 
fresh start was made. 

Next day passengers and crew alike had much to talk 
about. More than once the huge engines had to be 
stopped, the heating having reached a pitch too dangerous 
to be allowed to continue. 

" Are we in danger ? " was the one question now ; it 
was asked in whispers from one end of the ship to the 
other. 

" Do you think the ship is safe ? Will a fire break 
out ? " the frightened passengers, following up their ques- 
tionings, inquired of the responsible officers, in tones of 
alarm. 

The captain and his subordinates did their best to 
reassure and to cheer the poor creatures, though Captain 
Symonds himself was trying to inspire a hope and a 
confidence he by no means felt himself. He was un- 
willing to return to port, and not unnaturally so, with 
that fine and splendidly - equipped vessel, though the 
passengers almost all besought him to do so. Had he 
put back, there might have been a very different tale to 
tell. Yet who knows ? It might simply have been the 
English Channel instead of the Bay of Biscay that would 
have seen the fearful catastrophe that presently befell the 
Amazon. 

Captain Symonds kept his vessel moving slowly, when- 
ever the state of the bearings admitted of it, carrying the 

207 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

craft and the souls on board of her farther from home 
and from land, and farther into the restless Bay of Biscay. 
The passengers for the most part went to bed, many of 
them with sad forebodings, and almost all too full of 
fears to sleep. Mr. Neilson knew too much about the 
dangers to be apprehended to go comfortably to his 
berth, and he remained till late in the engine-room talk- 
ing to the chief engineer. The machinery was very hot 
again, and a stoppage was made, water being pumped on 
the bearings to cool them. But at length, about mid- 
night, things seeming in a better state, the captain and 
Mr. Neilson retired to their respective berths. For 
nearly an hour longer the Amazon churned her way 
across the heaving and tossing Bay. 

Suddenly there rang out in the darkness of the night 
the blood-curdling cry of " Fire ! Fire ! " Two different 
men of the crew, almost at the same moment, had peeped 
into the engine-room. To their consternation and horror, 
they had found the place full of leaping flames. Not a 
second was lost. While some made an attempt, gallant 
but ineffectual, to stop the engines, others seized buckets 
and attempted to bring the pumps to bear on the fire. 
The fire-bell was loudly rung, terrifying everybody with 
its awful peal. Up on deck came crowds of sailors and 
frantic passengers, most of the latter clad only in their 
night garments. The shrieks of the people, the din of 
the alarm-bell, the roar of the flames, the blustering of 
the winds, and the cries of a number of animals that were 
on board were enough to appal the stoutest heart there. 
And all this time the vessel was tearing at a great rate 
through the heaving billows and the blackness of the 
night. 

In all the records of destruction by fire at sea, few, if 

208 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

any, equal the burning of the Amazon in this respect — 
the rapidity with which the flames spread and obtained 
the mastery. Within a very few minutes, indeed, the 
whole of the middle part of the vessel was blazing fiercely, 
the flames towering on high, and quite cutting off the 
fore from the after portion. The effect of this was that 
the officers and the passengers were almost altogether 
separated from the crew. Nor was this all ; the engineers, 
after a short but heroic fight with the fierce flames, were 
compelled to abandon the engine - room, the monster 
machinery still in full play. Then, to the dismay of the 
men, to get out the hose and bring the steam pumps to 
bear on the fire was likewise found to be impossible, both 
hose and pumps having been consumed. Indeed, every- 
thing seemed to combine to bring about a catastrophe of 
the most disastrous kind. The extraordinary speed with 
which the flames travelled along the ship was not under- 
stood by the passengers, but it was no mystery to those 
in charge of the Amazon. The vessel carried a large 
quantity of oil, as well as tallow, hay, tarred sacks, and 
the like ; moreover, her own timbers were of the most 
inflammable description. Much of the most combustible 
of the cargo was unfortunately quite near the engines, 
and the fire was upon it almost at once. 

By this time the flames were shooting high in the air, 
and the doomed vessel, to any one who saw it from the 
neighbourhood, must have presented a spectacle awful 
yet grand. The very speed at which the ship was 
running helped on the work of destruction. Captain 
Symonds and his officers did everything in their power, 
working like slaves with the buckets, trying to comfort 
the affrighted crowds, conducting themselves like the 
heroes they were. 

o 209 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

But after all, what could either officers or crew do at 
such a time and in the face of such an extraordinary 
combination of untoward circumstances ? The flames 
were devouring everything before them ; the engines 
could not be stopped ; the pumps were burnt ; to throw 
pails of water on such an enormous mass of conflagra- 
tion was absolutely useless. The captain after a time 
went to the helm, there being nothing else he could do. 
Meanwhile the second officer, Mr. Roberts, was endeavour- 
ing to keep something like order among the bewildered 
and even desperate groups that crowded around him 
while he superintended the launching of the boats. 

Of these there were nine in all belonging to the 
Amazon'' s equipment, four of them life-boats. To launch 
these successfully was now the work to be done, a work 
that would at any time have been a difficulty in such a 
high wind and with so rough a sea. Now there were 
other and far greater difficulties. To begin with, the 
boats were chiefly in the after part of the ship, and 
consequently the crew could not get at them for the 
flames. But the skipper at the wheel altered his course, 
with the effect of throwing the flames in a different 
direction. Every boat was at once filled with people 
and waiting only the captain's orders to be lowered. 
Mr. Roberts performed good service in the struggle for 
places. Some who had secured a seat in a boat 
clamoured to be out again, becoming terrified by the 
roughness of the sea below. One man had seized a life- 
belt, but this the officer took from him, sternly reminding 
him that the ladies must be first provided for. One of 
the boats had by this caught fire, and it was time the 
order was given to lower. 

Then came a series of mishaps as extraordinary in their 

210 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

similarity and number as they were melancholy in result. 
The very first of the life-boats was swamped almost before 
she had touched the water, something having gone wrong 
with the lowering tackle, and a score of poor creatures 
were thrown headlong into the waves, amidst shrieks of 
horror from both victims and spectators. It was a heart- 
breaking scene, and only two of the unfortunates were 
picked up, the rest being drowned before the eyes of 
their companions still on deck. The second life-boat was 
now lowered ; it had dropped but a little way, when one 
end of the craft became unhooked from the tackle in 
some inexplicable manner, and another batch of pas- 
sengers were flung into the dark and agitated waters. 
The third boat met with no better fate, the tackle 
becoming unhooked, strange to say, at the other end of 
the boat. Its occupants were in their turn shot into the 
sea, the boat swinging empty by one end. Thus three 
boat-loads had been flung helplessly to their destruction. 
Yet all the while captain and officers were doing their 
best for the safety of the rest, working like Trojans in 
keeping order, seeing to the passengers and to the lower- 
ing operations. It was a truly melancholy run of ill- 
luck. And all the while the flames were roaring ever 
louder and shooting up to a greater height. It was a 
marvel that any others of the unhappy creatures should 
have had courage enough to try their fortune in another 
small boat, after the awful examples they had had before 
their eyes in the launching of the first three. But, then, 
to remain in the ship meant death, and death in its most 
fearful form, whereas by adventuring themselves on the 
waters the poor folk might have a bare chance of 
escape. 

And now a little heart was put into the despairing 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

creatures by the successful launching of the fourth of the 
life-boats. Fifteen persons, including Mr. Neilson the 
engineer passenger, pushed clear of the ship, she tearing 
the while through the tossing waves, and illuminating sea 
and sky by her leaping and devouring flames. 

The ship^ surgeon shortly afterwards played a con- 
spicuous part in the launching of the pinnace. Among 
the terrified passengers still on the deck of the Amazon 
were a lady and her little daughter, the lady's husband 
having already succumbed to the effects of the terrific 
heat. The doctor seized the weeping child and placed 
her in the pinnace and then helped in the distracted 
mother, who was with great difficulty held back from 
rushing to destruction by the side of her husband. 
Another hitch with the tackle threw yet another boat-load 
of shrieking mortals into the sea, and, as in other cases, 
the boat was left swaying backwards and forwards hanging 
from one end. An awful cry arose from the agonised 
onlookers, and then it was seen that some one was clinging 
to the thwarts for dear life. By the help of the doctor 
and others this person was hauled back to the deck of the 
ship. It proved to be the mother, who with heroic 
strength held her child still in her arms. It is pleasing 
to relate that this brave woman was one of the few who 
were finally saved, and that she carried her little girl with 
her to land. 

To attempt to describe the scene on board at this point 
would be to attempt the impossible, and besides, the 
account, if it could be fully and adequately given, would 
harrow the feelings of the reader to an extent well-nigh 
unbearable. Many of the poor victims, or who would 
soon be numbered among the victims, had become 
demented, either with the agonies they were already 

212 




A Plucky Mother 

A hitch with the tackle threw another boat-load of human beings into the water, 
except onewoman who desperately clung to the thwarts with one arm, and grasped 
her child with the other. 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

enduring, or with the thought of the fate that must 
inevitably be theirs, and that within a space of time 
possibly to be reckoned by minutes only. Some lay 
writhing on the deck, their burnt skin and flesh tearing 
off in patches ; ladies, with nothing on save their night- 
clothing, flew hither and thither distracted ; some in the 
madness of despair actually leapt headlong into the 
seething fires, as a quick end to all their sufferings of mind 
and body. A few sprang overboard, carrying in their 
arms a chair or some other article that might help to keep 
them afloat. Here and there might be seen a person 
engaged in earnest prayer, and more composed, the air all 
the while filled with the uproar of the winds, the sea, the 
flames, mingled with the shrieks of the doomed wretches. 

There were several smaller boats left on the Amazon, 
but it was out of the question to attempt to launch any 
of these till the speed of the vessel abated. Fortunately 
this much-to-be-desired result now came; the engines 
began to slow down ; soon they would cease to throb 
altogether. How many of the craft were successfully 
launched cannot now be known ; the accounts of what 
passed on board after this are necessarily but vague. It 
is time to turn away from the ship herself and her perish- 
ing occupants, to the boats that had cleared the wreck 
and disappeared in the darkness. 

One of these, it will be remembered, was the life-boat 
containing Mr. Neilson. While this was cruising about 
in the neighbourhood, a small skiff with five men in her, 
one of them a middy, and a splendid youngster, hove in 
sight. The little boat was filling rapidly, and the men 
were fighting the incoming water, baling with a couple 
of shoes, the only vessels available. These poor fellows 
were speedily transferred from their dingy to the life-boat, 

213 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

the smaller craft being taken in tow. The crew deter- 
mined to stand by to see the end of the Amazon, an end 
that was plainly at hand, to watch if haply they might 
pick up some struggling creature. 

So at a little distance Mr. Neilson and his companions 
remained, the waves for a long distance reddened with 
the same glare that illuminated the otherwise ghastly 
faces of the shivering and horror-stricken spectators. The 
storm had grown worse, and the bitter January winds 
whistled over the bosom of the sea, fanning the flames as 
the Amazon tossed hither and thither unguided. It was 
towards morning when the end came for the fine vessel. 
First one mast fell over, then another, and at last two 
or three tremendous explosions rent the air with their 
horrid din. Then the Amazon at once turned turtle, 
and the next minute the flames and the wreck that had 
fed them disappeared for ever. The last sight the on- 
lookers had of the ship showed her to be one huge, 
seething, roaring cauldron ; the next instant left the sea 
in pitchy darkness, the darkness that precedes the first 
streaks of the coming dawn. . 

The survivors in the life-boat pulled about the spot, 
but saw not a sign of life, though of wreckage the sea 
was full. There was nothing for it but to turn sadly and 
heart-broken away, and endeavour to reach land, or at 
least some passing vessel that might render help. One 
such ship had actually passed already, while the Amazon 
was still burning, but the brutal captain and his crew, 
turning a deaf ear to the frantic cries of the life-boat com- 
pany, had gone on her way, leaving the poor wretches to 
whatever fate might await them. In the middle of the 
morning — it was Sunday — to their indescribable joy they 
were picked up by an outward-bound vessel, whose 

214 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

skipper, full of sympathy, at once put back to Plymouth, 
where the sufferers were safely landed, the first to bring 
to England the terrible news. 

We may glance next at the pinnace, in which were, 
amongst others, the lady and her little daughter, who 
had so pluckily clung to the thwarts while the boat had 
hung perpendicularly in the air. The occupants of the 
pinnace suffered long and terribly, and not least from 
exposure to the cold and wet, many of them having on 
hardly any clothing. The boat sprang a leak, and, but 
for the resourcefulness of one of the crew, would have 
been speedily swamped. He popped one of his garments 
over the gaping hole, and then sat on it to keep out as 
much of the water as possible. His device succeeded so 
well that his companions by baling were enabled to keep 
the craft afloat. The only chance of rescue for the miser- 
able occupants lay in the possibility that some ship would 
pass that way. One or two vessels, indeed, were seen, but 
they were at too great a distance, and, to the dismay of 
the wrecked, they sailed away without having noticed the 
boat. 

At last hope rose higher in their breasts. The short 
winter day was running rapidly out when another ship 
was observed, and at once the survivors from the Amazon 
put forth every effort to reach her. Should the darkness 
first come, the case was hopeless. A struggle for life, 
gallant, but almost killing in its severity, followed. Would 
the people on the ship see them ? And if they did, would 
they respond? A few minutes decided their fate. The 
vessel was seen to heave-to, and presently every soul had 
been lifted from the pinnace on to the deck. It was 
a Dutch vessel, and her men vied with each other in 
their eagerness to minister to the handful of sufferers. 

215 



A SHIP ON FIRE 

The skipper at once made for Brest, interrupting his own 
voyage for the purpose. 

Early on Monday morning yet another of the Amazon's 
boats was picked up by the Dutchman. This boat con- 
tained eight persons. She had had a hard fight for it, 
and had, in fact, been twice swamped before she had been 
launched. Searchers in plenty were by this time scouring 
the Bay in the endeavour to assist any other craft that 
might be still afloat. But nothing was seen of more of 
the survivors of the Amazon, and the pitiful remnant was 
regarded as all that had been saved. 

The surprises in connection with this luckless vessel 
continued to the end. A whole fortnight after the 
catastrophe the country was startled — and overjoyed — to 
learn that thirteen other survivors had been landed at 
Plymouth by a revenue cutter. These poor souls had 
been picked up by another Dutch barque, and eventually 
handed over to the cutter. The total number saved was 
now increased to fifty-nine, leaving a total of one hundred 
and two who had perished either by fire or water. 

Few fires at sea have been more awful, and this fact, 
coupled with the splendid heroism of the captain and 
many another man — and the ladies must not be left out 
— will long render this memorable among British wrecks. 



216 



CHAPTER XVIII 
THE PRIXCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

The Prince, a French East Indiaman— Fire discovered in the hold — 
Desperate efforts to smother the fire — Fire spreads rapidly — 
Soldiers drawn up on deck — Seven men get away in the yawl — 
Mishap to the long-boat — Men and women frantic — The chaplain 
gives all absolution — The Prince heels partly over — Danger from 
the cannon — Lieutenant de la Fond — Slips into the sea — Grasped 
by a drowning soldier — The lieutenant's unselfishness — His terrible 
struggles — He tries to help and encourage on all sides — Mainmast 
falls and crushes many — Guns still discharging and killing — The 
ship explodes — All lost save those in the yawl — A marvellous 
voyage across the Atlantic — They reach Brazil — Well treated by 
the Portusmese— Return to France. 



w 



HEX a ship is destroyed by fire at sea usually 
there are two, and only two, kinds of danger 
threatening the souls on board — the danger 
from the fire itself and that which awaits them if they 
take to the waters to avoid so fearful a death. But 
occasionally even other horrors are added. This was the 
case when the French East Indiaman Le Prince was burnt 
in the Atlantic, in the middle of the eighteenth century. 
The story of this vessel's destruction, of the conspicuous 
heroism of its first mate, and of the wonderful voyage of 
the handful of survivors, across almost the whole breadth 
of the Atlantic, in a small boat, is a remarkable one. 

The Prince was unfortunate from her very start, for 
she ran aground soon after leaving the port LTOrient. 

217 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

But when at length she did get fairly away all went well 
till she was off the west coast of Africa, some five hundred 
miles south of the Equator. Suddenly one of the crew 
raised the dread alarm of fire, reporting to the first 
lieutenant, M. de la Fond, that smoke was coming up the 
main hatchway. The officer, to his alarm, found on 
investigating that there was fire raging below, and at 
once the terrifying news ran about the ship, instantly 
bringing up the captain from his dinner. 

No time was lost. Immediately the hatchways were 
covered with patches of sail cloth that had been well 
steeped in the sea, in the hope that the fire would thus 
be smothered and no further damage done. Preparations 
were also made to flood the between-decks with water, 
but the fire increased so rapidly that this could not be 
done. The buckets were plied with all possible vigour, 
and, pipes being let down into the hold, the pumps were 
worked with a will. All in vain ; in spite of the heroic 
exertions of the men the fire gained on them. As usual 
with East Indiamen in those days, the Prince carried a 
number of soldiers. These their officers at once paraded 
on deck to allay excitement, and to prevent so large a mass 
of men from creating confusion by their crowding. Their 
colonel was a fine fellow, and his coolness and fortitude at 
such a time were worthy of all admiration. 

By this time it was clear to every man that the ship 
was doomed. Before long the flames were bursting forth 
from the main hatchway in great volumes. The fire was 
raging fiercely below, and when the master attempted to 
visit the hold he was immediately driven back by the 
fierceness of the heat. Had his men not thrown water 
over him he would have been consumed on the spot. The 
flames were now roaring, and mounting high, yet their din 

218 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

was quite drowned by the agonised shrieks of hundreds of 
human beings. 

The boats were ordered out. One, the yawl, had 
already been launched, in fact, and four men had got into 
her and pushed off a little from the burning vessel. Three 
other sailors leapt overboard after their mates, carrying 
with them oars, with which the yawl was not as yet pro- 
vided. The men still on board the Prince besought these 
seven to come back, but they, seeing the havoc the fire had 
already made, judged that it would be the better part to 
keep clear. The main thing was now to get out the long- 
boat, and at once the energies of the crew were devoted 
to the launching of the ponderous craft. Misfortune 
followed on the heels of misfortune. The boat happened 
to be slung high, and the fire attacked the ropes by which 
it was suspended. In a moment the tackle had burnt 
through and the long-boat fell with a crash upon the 
ship's guns, and bottom upwards. This was a terrible 
blow ; to lift so heavy a craft and get her safely into the 
water was impossible ; thus the chief means of rescue for 
the men lay useless. It was now evident that the greater 
number, if not all, of the ship's company must face death, 
the only question being whether it would be by fire or by 
drowning. Numbers of the poor wretches preferred to 
trust themselves to the waves, and sprang overboard in 
desperation. 

The scene at this time is thus described by one narrator : 
" Yards, spars, hencoops, everything on which there was a 
hope of floating, were flung overboard. Many leapt into 
the waves. Others swam to the fragments of the wreck 
which floated around. The shrouds and yards of the 
vessel were covered with hesitating men, who could not 
yet determine on their mode of perishing. A father 

219 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

folded his son in his arms, and then throwing him into the 
sea, followed him, and both perished. ,, There was a chap- 
lain on board, and he, in pursuance of his duty at such a 
moment, stood on the quarter-deck to give absolution to 
those who were still on the vessel. Then, not content 
with that, the good man clambered to a part of the ship 
from which he could command a sight of those struggling 
in the waves, and again pronounced the formula of 
absolution. 

Within a very few minutes the Prince heeled over on 
her side, and half her deck was submerged, leaving above 
water only a portion, almost the whole of which was 
fiercely blazing. From stem to stern there was hardly 
a place where a man might stand in safety, even for a few 
moments. M. de la Fond, the first mate, who had all 
along made the most heroic efforts to save life and to 
manage the ship, now taking a look around him, was 
startled to find that he was apparently the sole creature 
left alive on the vessel. But on his way to the round- 
house he met another man, the commander of the soldiers, 
a brave French gentleman.. 

" My friend and brother," cried Colonel de la Touche 
to the lieutenant, holding out his hand, " farewell ! " 

" Where are you going ? " M. de la Fond inquired. 

" To comfort my friend the captain," was the reply. 
And Captain Morin was found in the round-house 
endeavouring to cheer some ladies, his relatives, as well 
as a few other passengers there collected. All he and the 
other gentlemen could do for the poor creatures, however, 
was to advise them to seize something that would help 
them to float for a time, and with that to fling them- 
selves into the sea when it was no longer possible to 
remain on the ship, a moment that was come very near ; 

220 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

in fact, even as the group clung together in the round- 
house, the flames began to leap in through the window. 

And now another awful danger threatened the miser- 
able beings in the water around, a danger that had been 
foreseen by the gallant officers, but one it was out of 
their power to avert. The Prince ', after the fashion of 
the time, was as much a warship as a merchantman, and 
carried a good many guns, all ready loaded, in case there 
should come an unexpected brush with the enemy. 
Enemies were plentiful at a time when nearly all Europe 
was engaged in war, and when France in particular was at 
variance with England and other countries. Suddenly 
there was a flash, thunder rent the air, and a chorus 
of resounding shrieks told with only too terrible clearness 
what had happened. One of the guns, subjected to the 
fierce heat of the flames, had gone off, its shot striking 
the crowd of struggling beings that hung desperately to 
the floating masts and yards. For more than one poor 
wretch suffering and suspense were brought to a sudden 
and awful end by the discharge. And this was but the 
first of the pieces of ordnance to come into action. 
There was a long row of others, any one of which might 
belch forth its fire and shot amongst the survivors, and 
none knew at what moment. Fire, sea, artillery — all 
leagued against these hopeless unfortunates ! Few situa- 
tions more dreadful than theirs can be imagined by the 
mind of man. Another and then another of the cannon 
boomed forth, each roar telling of the death of some, and 
increasing the apprehensions of the diminishing body of 
survivors. 

When the flames had burst into the round-house the 
occupants had been forced out. Some flung themselves 
frantically into the sea. M. de la Fond, the lieutenant, 

221 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

threw off some of his clothing, and got astride of one of 
the yards, the end of which was drooping into the water. 
He thought to slide down the pole, but before he could 
do so it had become covered with human beings, and 
when he started he was thrown off, and fell into the sea. 
He was an expert swimmer, but he was instantly seized 
by a poor drowning wretch, a soldier, and had to dive 
beneath the surface to get rid of the man. The soldier 
held tight, however, and the lieutenant dived again. A 
third time De la Fond plunged below, yet could not get 
quite clear of the other. But the man was by this time 
almost drowned, and the lieutenant dived once more, this 
time coming up without the soldier, and at a distance 
from the spot where he was still feebly struggling. It 
was a severe fight the officer had had for his life. The 
experience he had just passed through had alarmed him a 
good deal, and he was very careful to keep away from 
everybody, avoiding even the dead bodies floating about, 
pushing them aside with one hand, to clear for himself a 
passage, while he swam with the other. 

It is no wonder that by this time the man was quite 
exhausted. He could no longer keep himself on the 
surface without help, and he glanced round him in search 
of some support. He fortunately perceived a bit of a 
flagstaff with a loop of the cord still on it. To that he 
clung till he came near one of the yards. But noticing a 
man on the other end, and seeing that the yard was not 
more than enough to sustain the poor fellow, the lieu- 
tenant quitted his hold and left the spar to his comrade. 
In spite of his deplorable condition, M. de la Fond struck 
out for another and a larger yard he saw not far away ; 
but this was filled with people, and he forbore to en- 
danger them by putting his additional weight thereon. 

222 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

The hapless creatures, themselves in the most desperate 
plight, did not fail to appreciate the gallantry of the 
heroic and unselfish officer, and they expressed commisera- 
tion with him in his helpless situation. 

With a great crash the mainmast now fell over, burnt 
through at the bottom. It struck a crowd of strugglers 
in the sea and killed several of them. But the next 
instant it was covered with people, who made for it as for 
an asylum of safety. The people on it were tossed hither 
and thither by the rolling waves, for the mast had become 
altogether detached from the ship. De la Fond likewise 
clung to this mast, and at once his mind turned to others 
who were not so fortunate. Seeing a couple of sailors pre- 
cariously holding on to a hencoop, he encouraged them to 
endeavour to reach the mast, and this they did, bringing 
with them one or two others who had seized them by the 
way. The lieutenant seems to have thought of everybody 
rather than of himself. Among those holding on to the 
mast were two young ladies, and these he did his best to 
support and cheer. The chaplain was there also, giving a 
final absolution to his companions in misfortune. There 
were, the lieutenant estimated, some eighty persons on 
the mainmast. 

Though they for the moment congratulated themselves 
that they had secured a place of comparative safety, yet 
in reality their position was one of extreme danger. All 
the time at intervals the cannon had been discharging 
their contents into the sea, often to the destruction of the 
poor souls floating around the ship. And now it was 
observed that some of the as yet undischarged guns were 
pointing in the very direction of the mass of beings on 
the mast. The situation was one of horror; at any 
moment death might come for them. But first one and 

223 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

then another poor wretch dropped from his hold, too 
exhausted to cling longer. One of the ladies thus sank, 
de la Fond being at the moment too far from her to save 
her. Next the chaplain relaxed his hold, and but for 
the lieutenant would have been drowned then and 
there. Making a quick grab at the man, the officer 
seized him and held him up. The chaplain begged to 
be allowed to die. " I am half drowned already," he 
moaned, " and it is only prolonging my misery." But 
M. de la Fond would not listen, and assured him that 
they would keep together as long as possible. 

The yawl, which, it will be remembered, had been early 
launched by a few of the sailors, presently appeared not 
far from the spot, and the officer hailed her, calling out 
that he was the lieutenant, and begging to be taken in. 
The sailors were willing enough to receive him, but they 
had no mind to come near the crowd on the mast, know- 
ing well that to do so meant the swamping of the craft, 
and the probable destruction of all. So they advised De 
la Fond to swim out to them. Thoroughly exhausted 
though he was, he yet made the attempt, for it was his 
only chance. It was a terrible struggle for life, but the 
plucky fellow succeeded, and, together with the master 
and the pilot, who swam with him, was dragged into the 
yawl. The men at once pulled away from the ship, the 
end of which was evidently near. 

The yawl had got to a distance of a few hundred yards 
when a fearful roar thundered out. "The explosion was 
terrible. A dense cloud of smoke ascended from the 
shattered wreck, and obscured the sun for a short time. 
Pieces of flaming timber were hurled into the air, and 
falling, crushed the miserable beings who were struggling 
in the sea for their existence. Even the yawl was not 

224 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

beyond the reach of danger. The spectacle shocked them 
dreadfully, the sea around them being covered with the 
burned and mangled bodies of their friends, some of 
whom retained life enough to struggle and be sensible of 
the horrors around them." 

The lieutenant, who was one of the very few in the 
yawl to keep his wits in working order, got his men to 
pull to the spot after the Prince had disappeared, not to 
pick up any poor wretch, for the boat was already full, 
but in the hope that provisions or other useful articles 
might be found. At first they met with nothing of value 
to them, but, after cruising about awhile, they were 
lucky enough to secure a cask of brandy, a little salt 
pork, some cloth, and other things. Then, night coming 
on, when it would be dangerous to remain amongst such 
a mass of floating wreckage, they were compelled to pull 
to a distance. All night the men worked with a will, 
placing an oar for a mast, rigging up a piece of cloth for 
a sail, and so forth. 

These preparations were needed, for the shipwrecked 
sailors were at least six hundred miles from the nearest 
land, and they did not know exactly in which direction 
even that lay. But Lieutenant de la Fond took the 
helm, and with a spanking breeze from the east, the yawl 
was quickly carried far from the scene of the disaster, 
travelling towards the west. The voyage on which these 
men thus entered proved to be a very remarkable one, 
when the length of it is considered and the diminutive- 
ness of the craft, to say nothing of the exceedingly small 
supply of food on board. As for water, there was none. 
Many of the sailors were literally naked, and in the day- 
time suffered from the intense heat of the sun, while at 
night their position was not much better, the cold often 
p 225 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

being severe. Nothing but a small piece of pork could 
be given daily to each man, and even that before long 
they had to refuse, the effect on their stomachs being 
such as to render them all seriously ill. The brandy 
slaked their thirst not at all ; indeed, it only made matters 
worse. A shower of rain was hailed as a godsend, the 
men catching the precious drops in their hands, and suck- 
ing the saturated sail. They saw plenty of fish, but were 
unable to catch a single one. As for their course, they 
could judge of it only by observing the rising and setting 
of the sun, but they knew that they were being borne 
across the wide Atlantic in the direction of South 
America. 

The lieutenant constantly tried to cheer his com- 
panions, but it is no wonder that at times even his own 
spirits drooped. To cross from the African side of the 
ocean to the coast of America, and that in a small boat, 
without provisions or water, appeared to be truly a hope- 
less enterprise. Scarcely any hope indeed was left in the 
breasts of the poor fellows. But the boat sped rapidly 
on under a good breeze ; that was their only comfort. 
Thus day after day dragged slowly by. On the eighth 
day of their cramped and miserable voyage M. de la 
Fond remained for ten consecutive hours at the rudder, 
and in the evening dropped exhausted. His mates were 
in no better case, and a night of suffering and despair 
was spent. But, happily, it was, in more senses than one, 
the darkness that comes before the dawn. 

To their indescribable delight, as soon as morning 
broke, on the ninth day, the sailors perceived land ahead. 
The sight brought life back to them, and they renewed 
their exertions. And exertions were required. A current 
was found to be carrying the yawl away from the land, or 

226 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

rather along the coast, instead of towards it, and the 
difficulty had to be got over by careful and skilful steer- 
ing. De la Fond was fortunate enough to run his craft 
in safety ashore, and the men, wild with joy, sprang out 
upon the beach. They even rolled themselves in the 
sand, so rejoiced were they to be once more on land. Yet 
even now their condition was deplorable, for they were 
parched with thirst, starving, and in a feeble state of 
health ; moreover, they did not know whether they had 
fallen upon a land of savages. " Some were quite naked, 
others had only their shirts, which were in rags. De la 
Fond fastened a piece of scarlet cloth about his waist, 
that he might appear to be the chief of the party." 

Before long they perceived a body of some fifty men 
approaching, and, to their infinite relief, they saw they 
had at least to do with civilised people. The natives 
turned out to be Portuguese, who, as soon as they heard 
the strange story of the sailors, carried the poor fellows 
off to their huts. The inhabitants could scarce believe 
that the tiny yawl had brought her crew across almost the 
whole breadth of the great Atlantic Ocean. On the way 
to the settlement was a river, and into this the wretched 
beings plunged with frantic delight, drinking greedily, 
and bathing their bodies. The bath, they found, worked 
wonders for them ; they felt like new beings. The com- 
munity living by the shore consisted entirely of poor folk, 
but they gave what food they could to the shipwrecked 
Frenchmen. They then led them to a larger settlement, 
a mile or two inland, where they were well cared for. 

Unwilling to be a burden to their kind hosts, and now 
somewhat refreshed, the sailors set off to walk to Paraiba, 
forty or fifty miles away, and after a good deal of suffer- 
ingand hardship reached the place. Their troubles were 

227 



THE PRINCE AND ITS LIEUTENANT 

now at an end. From Paraiba they were conveyed by sea 
to Pernambuco, where they were lucky enough to get a 
passage in a Portuguese ship back to Europe. It is sad 
to relate that the gallant lieutenant, who had played such 
a splendid part all through, arrived home a broken and 
ruined man. His health had been hopelessly shattered by 
what he had gone through, and every penny he had in the 
world had gone down with the ill-starred Prince, when 
three hundred of his comrades had perished. But the 
name of De la Fond is one that deserves to be remem- 
bered as that of a right noble sailor. 



228 



CHAPTER XIX 
THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

Terrific hurricane at Samoa— The harbour of Apia— Seven warships 
there — The German ship Eber drags her anchors — Overwhelmed 
with nearly her entire crew — The Adler's fate — The American 
vessel Nipsic beached — The wreck of the Vandalia — Captain 
knocked senseless and swept away — The Trenton and the Olga — 
The British Calliope — Her captain determines to attempt to run 
out— Collisions— " Every pound of steam " — But only half a knot 
an hour — Safe outside the harbour — Calliope back at Samoa — 
Runs for Sydney — Immense enthusiasm — "Nerve and decision." 

" r I ^HE worst shipping disaster since the use of steam 
came in." These words, or something like them, 
* were used by Captain Kane, of H.M.S. Calliope, 
after the terrific hurricane in the Samoa Islands, in the 
year 1889. That they were abundantly justified may be 
seen even from the brief but fearful message received 
from the American Admiral Kimberley, soon after the 
catastrophe, or rather the series of catastrophes. " Terrific 
hurricane at Apia," the telegram ran, "for nearly two 
days ; every vessel in harbour ashore, except English ship 
Calliope, which got out to sea." When it is added that 
besides the losses in Apia harbour there were eight other 
vessels destroyed on the same coast, but outside the har- 
bour, it will be at once understood that a naval disaster 
of appalling magnitude had taken place. The story is 
worth telling in detail and at some length. 

The Samoa or Navigators' Islands are a group in the 

229 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

Southern Pacific, and, like most of the other groups out 
there, they are mainly of volcanic origin, but with coral 
reefs around or amongst them. The harbour of Apia, on 
one of the islands, is almost entirely closed in by such a 
reef, the openings from the nearly land-locked stretch of 
water being few, and, with one exception, "small. In 
March, 1889, this harbour was crowded with foreign war 
vessels, a strange sight in such a spot. Why those men- 
of-war were at Samoa need not be explained here ; it is 
sufficient to say that there were ships belonging to three 
of the great Powers of the world, America, Germany, and 
Britain. 

The barometer had given warning that a severe storm 
was at hand. But then the Samoa Islands lie in a belt 
subject to hurricanes, and, indeed, severe tempests are too 
common there to be specially feared. Captain Kane, the 
commander of the one British ship there, did not like the 
look of the weather, but every one assured him that the 
rising storm was not likely to be more severe than many 
another which had come and gone. For all that the 
captain, wise man as he. was, prepared for awkward 
developments and emergencies. He kept steam up, and 
had out no fewer than five anchors. In the harbour were 
also the Eber, the Adler, and the Olga, German men-of- 
war, as well as the American warships the Vandalia, the 
Trenton, and the Nipsic. Of smaller trading craft there 
were likewise a good many. 

The storm rapidly increased in severity, and before long 
it was raging with a fury rarely, if ever, before witnessed 
by any of those who experienced it. The situation be- 
came truly alarming. Even within the encircling coral 
reef that forms the harbour the ships were dragging 
violently at their anchors, the thick cables creaking and 

230 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

groaning under the tremendous strain. Moreover, the 
great battleships were so near to each other that collisions 
were inevitable. And a single blow from the formidable 
ram of one of them might in a minute send to the 
bottom a neighbour ship and every soul on board her. 
Disasters were not long in coming. 

Of all the long series of mishaps that day, one of the 
most deplorable and dreadful was the first. It was six 
o'clock on the morning of the 16th of March, and most 
of the men were under hatches. It was a wild scene that 
met the eye in the harbour, the huge vessels tossing 
wildly in all directions and tugging at their cables, while 
the decks were swept by incredible masses of water. 
Presently the German Eber dragged her anchors, and 
instantly she was driven towards the coral reef. She was 
quite helpless, and the next moment she had struck, 
broadside on. There was a heavy lurch — a stagger back, 

and then ! Then the noble vessel heeled suddenly 

over and sank in deep and surging water. There was a 
shout from those who witnessed this appalling disaster, 
but all was over almost before the cry had left the throats 
of the distressed spectators. Nothing could be done ; 
hardly a man on board the Eber escaped. The catas- 
trophe was as complete as it was sudden. 

It was now the turn of the Adler, another of the 
German ships. Her men were fortunately on deck, and 
prepared to make a fight for existence if the worst should 
come. The sea and the hurricane lifted this vessel bodily 
and threw her with her beam- ends on the reef. In a 
moment scores of sailors were struggling for their lives in 
the raging waters. The surf was tossing madly around 
the poor fellows, and it seemed impossible that any man 
could survive. However, several of the strugglers made 

231 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

for the shore. Now a man would succumb, throw up his 
arms helplessly and hopelessly, and disappear in the boil- 
ing sea ; another, more fortunate, would win to land, and 
drag himself, exhausted but saved, out of the water. 
This ship had not heeled over when she sank, and the 
masts stuck out above the surface ; to these clung a crowd 
of sailors. It was a most precarious position, for it was 
seen that the masts must go. They did go, falling over 
with a crash, and flinging the men into the surf as their 
brethren had been flung before. The same heartrending 
scenes came over again ; some perished ; some, the captain 
amongst them, got to shore. 

The United States vessel Nipsic also dragged her 
anchors. But in this case the commander was luckily 
able to keep some control over his ship. Anxiously he 
cast his eye around in search of a suitable bit of shore 
where he might attempt to run his vessel aground. Per- 
ceiving what he wanted, he ran for the spot, and with 
excellent seamanship beached his ship in shallow and 
somewhat smoother water. The men scrambled to the 
shore, and, but for an unfortunate occurrence, all would 
have been saved. But one boat capsized in the surf, and 
six or seven men were drowned. As for the ship, it was 
hoped that eventually she might be got off again. 

The account of the wreck of the Vandalia, which may 
be taken next, although out of its strict order, is heart- 
breaking reading. Like the Eber, this ship was flung 
right upon the reef. The shock when she struck was 
tremendous, and caused a regrettable loss at the very 
outset. Her captain was hurled upon a Gatling gun and 
was knocked senseless. Before the poor fellow could be 
assisted, or could assist himself, a heavy sea swept the 
deck and carried him away. In horror the scene matches 

232 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

that of the wreck of the Eber. " Of the officers and 
crew, several were washed overboard and drowned. Others 
perished after a hard struggle to swim ashore. Others 
remained for hours in the rigging, which still remained 
above water, but were carried away one by one by the 
green waves that never ceased to wash over them." One 
by one washed away ! Yet they were within a few yards 
of the shore, where stood spectators, and were surrounded 
by other ships with watching crews. Alas ! none could 
help them of all that looked on and bewailed the awful 
fate of their brethren. 

There were still left the Trenton, the Olga, and the 
Calliope. The first was a corvette, and presently she was 
driven violently upon the Vandalia. The Trenton reeled, 
capsized, and then floated bottom upwards. Strange to 
say, even with a disaster so sudden and so terrible, not a 
man was lost from this vessel. All this time the Olga 
had stood the gale well, tossing violently and tugging at 
her cables, it is true, but still riding out the storm, not- 
withstanding the battered condition to which she had 
been reduced by collisions and the heavy seas. Somewhat 
later in the morning her turn came. Becoming un- 
manageable, she broke away and drove headlong upon 
the beach. Most fortunately she struck in perhaps the 
very best place for the purpose which the harbour could 
show. Not a single life was lost of the Olga^s company. 
Thus far the destruction of no fewer than six battleships 
has been described. The sacrifice of life was fearful, the 
Vandalia alone having lost her captain and 193 men. 

We must now turn to the British Calliope. Her com- 
mander, as has already been mentioned, had taken the 
precaution to keep up full steam. First one, then 
another of his anchors dragged, till three had gone. 

-33 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

Captain Kane was desirous of beaching his ship, after 
the manner of the Nipsic and the Olga. But he soon 
found that in his case the thing was quite impossible in 
such a terrific sea. Then for a little while this gallant 
and skilful officer debated within himself what course it 
would be best for him to pursue. It needed a cool head, 
a strong nerve, and a rare decision. The man who pos- 
sessed them all was there, and he possessed the qualities 
in full measure. 

The risk involved in the step Captain Kane decided to 
take was so great that it could be justified only by the 
fact that the risk there was in remaining was greater than 
that in attempting to steam out. One after another his 
companion ships had been driven to their doom ; was any 
better fate to be anticipated for the British vessel, should 
she remain in the harbour ? Most fortunately the attempt 
was crowned with the most brilliant and gratifying suc- 
cess ; had it been otherwise, it can hardly be doubted that 
the captain would have been seriously blamed by many 
who understood nothing of his difficulties. Captain Kane 
had already taken up his fourth anchor ; now he slipped 
his fifth, and turned the Calliope's head towards the best 
of the openings in the circling reef. 

At first it seemed as if everything was conspiring to 
thwart the efforts of a brave and skilful seaman. The 
force of the hurricane was frightful ; there was no stand- 
ing against it ; it was impossible to keep one's feet save 
by clinging hard to some part of the ship. There had 
come a thickness and a darkness in the atmosphere which 
baffled all efforts of the eye to penetrate it. In the 
captain's own words, "the weather was as thick as pea 
soup." Whether he were "ten miles from the reef or 
only ten yards," he was quite unable to see. Then there 

234 




■ ; ; . 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

was the uncertainty as to the behaviour of the vessel 
under the conditions obtaining. Would she answer her 
helm ? Would she be manageable at all ? Nothing but 
actual trial could decide that. To crown all, one of the 
American vessels, the Trenton, which afterwards capsized, 
was exactly in the fairway. The seas were described as 
perfectly fearful, and almost without cessation the water 
swept in tremendous volumes over the decks. 

Mishaps came early. First there was a collision with 
the unfortunate Vandalia. The Calliope's bowsprit was 
instantly carried away, but luckily no other serious 
damage was done. Then the British ship was within an 
ace of being rammed by the Olga, a catastrophe that 
would have quickly ended ship and crew alike. A second 
collision with the Vandalia no seamanship could avert, but 
again the mishap resulted in no serious damage to the 
vessel. The powerful engines, even under the fullest 
possible pressure of steam, were unable to make any head- 
way at all. At no time during the struggle to get out 
was the Calliope able to make more than half a knot per 
hour, a fact which says everything as to the severity of 
the storm. Captain Kane shall tell his story himself 
from this point. 

"I called on the Staff-Engineer for every pound of 
steam he could give me, and slipped the one remaining 
cable. I had slipped the sheet some time before, finding 
it did no good and hampered my movements. The 
engines worked admirably, and little by little we gathered 
way, and went out, flooding the upper deck with green 
seas, which came in over the bows, and which would have 
sunk many a ship. My fear was that she would not 
steer, and would go on the reef in the passage-way out, 
especially as the Trenton was right in the fairway. But 

235 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

we went under her stem, putting our foreyard over her 
quarter-boat, and came up head to wind most beautifully. 
Once outside, it was nothing but hard steaming ; if the 
engines held out, we were safe ; if anything went wrong 
with them, we were done for. Thanks to the admirable 
order in which engines and boilers have been kept, all 
went well." 

Thus, amid the cheers of some who looked on, the 
Calliope, alone of all the war vessels present in the Samoa 
harbour, got safe out to sea. Not a man of her company 
had been lost, and there was but one case of injury, a 
serious case, it is true, but not fatal. The vessel's hull 
was undamaged, or nearly so, though she had suffered 
several minor bits of injury. Her fore-yard was sprung, 
her head and stem had been crushed, and all her boats 
had been carried away except one. All the fastenings of 
the bowsprit had been torn off, and three or four of her 
anchors were gone. Still, the vessel had brought herself 
and her crew out of the death-trap which the Apia 
harbour was that day. 

It may be asked how it was that the Calliope escaped 
while all the others came to grief. Was it because she 
occupied some better and safer position in the harbour ? 
Hardly that, as the collisions showed. Was it that she 
possessed engines superior to those of the other vessels? 
There is nothing to show whether this was the case or no, 
but Captain Kane gives the highest praise to the en- 
gineers and the firemen. Says he, "The way in which the 
engineer officers and stokers kept to their work, is beyond 
all praise." Was it, to resume our questions, that the 
crew of the Calliope was superior to those of the rest of 
the warships ? No one would venture to assert so much ; 
yet that Captain Kane was well satisfied with his com- 

236 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

pany, abundantly appears. In his report to the Admir- 
alty at home he writes thus : " I cannot speak too highly 
of the conduct of every officer and man on board the 
sloop. During the hours we passed, when any moment 
might have been our last, every order was obeyed with 
alacrity and without confusion. r) There remain two other 
explanations ; the Calliope's escape was due to excellent 
seamanship, or — it was a bit of sheer good luck. Natur- 
ally every British reader will like to think that the 
seamanship for which his race has been famous for a 
thousand years did not fail, even in the terrible and 
almost unprecedented hurricane at Samoa. And such a 
feeling is not incompatible with the highest admiration 
for the skill and the bravery displayed by the other crews 
there present. Captain Kane himself bears testimony to 
the judgment with which certain of the vessels were 
handled. In speaking of the Adler, for instance, he says 
that " by good management she slipped her cables at the 
right moment, or she would have gone down in deep 
water," instead of, as she did, in a place where a large 
number of the men could and did save themselves. 

But leaving all this, the news of the disaster out in the 
Pacific was received with consternation and horror by the 
whole civilised world ; sympathy with the sufferers, and 
with the great American and German nations generally, 
was abundantly shown. Queen Victoria at once sent 
messages of deep condolence to the President of the 
United States and the Emperor of Germany, to which 
those distinguished personages sent grateful replies. The 
British officers at Gibraltar were among the many that 
forwarded a message of brotherly sympathy, a step that 
was greatly appreciated in both Germany and America. 
Other steamers with men and stores were at once sent 

237 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

out by the two countries to supply the place of those 
that had been lost. The Emperor, it was said, was 
specially grieved. His navy was but young, yet it had 
already sustained two or three very heavy and deplorable 
losses. Now, to lose three ships of war and a large 
number of brave sailors at one stroke came as a crushing 
blow. 

When Captain Kane got clear of the fatal Apia har- 
bour he was still in a critical position. To beat up 
against the hurricane was impossible ; all he could do 
was to let his ship drive as it listed before the wind. All 
the remainder of the 16th she did thus ride ; but on the 
17th the storm abated a good deal, and he returned to 
Samoa, and that for two reasons. He wanted to ascertain 
the exact position of affairs there before he steamed away 
to Sydney, and he was running short of coal. He found 
the Nipsic afloat again ; the rest of the ships, with the 
possible exception of the Olga, were hopelessly broken. 
Diving operations were going on, and the British captain 
at once sent Admiral Kimberley a diving-suit and 
apparatus. The American admiral had already given the 
Calliope a ten-oared boat, to take the place of her lost 
craft. There was nothing more Kane could do, and after 
purchasing 150 tons of coal from a German firm at Apia, 
the only place where it could be got, he set his course for 
Sydney. Common prudence dictated this step. Samoa 
was a region liable to these terrible hurricanes, and he 
was apprehensive that another storm was brewing. More- 
over, the Consul was of opinion that there was no longer 
any need for warships to keep order there. 

It is no wonder that thousands of folk flocked to see 
the Calliope when she reached Sydney. The story of her 
escape at Samoa caused immense enthusiasm among the 

238 



THE DISASTER AT SAMOA 

Australians. Officers and crew received warm congratula- 
tions from all quarters, Lord Carrington, the Governor, 
leading the way. And, when the news spread, the rest of 
the vast empire of Britain was quite as eager to send its 
felicitations. 

Altogether the story of the hurricane at Samoa, and of 
the marvellous escape of the Calliope alone among all the 
battleships, is not likely to be forgotten in our generation. 
Officers and men well deserved the hearty thanks of the 
Admiralty, and as for the captain, no one can doubt that, 
in the words of the Government dispatch, he "showed 
both nerve and decision." 



239 



CHAPTER XX 

THE ROMANCE OF THE ATLANTIC 
CABLE 

" The triumph of our age " — Mr. Cyrus Field and the Atlantic Cable 
project — The Niagara and the Agamemnon leave Valentia with 
the cable — Haps and mishaps — The cable breaks! — Another 
attempt — Ships meet in mid-Atlantic — A violent storm — Splicing 
operations — A huge whale fouls the cable ! — Breakage and loss of 
cable— A return to England for more— Success — Messages across 
the Atlantic — Cable ceases to "speak" — The Great Eastern — 
Takes new coil on board — More mishaps — Suspicions of foul play 
— All goes merrily till two-thirds of the work is done — Cable 
breaks— Fishing for a million of money — A second rope also 
breaks — A third and last try — Forging a grapnel, a weird scene on 
board — Another failure— The cable of 1866 — Great Eastern reaches 
Newfoundland — The cable of 1865 recovered and completed— A 
magnificent work. 

SO accustomed are we at the present day to send 
messages by cable to distant continents, that we are 
in danger of forgetting the splendid story of the 
laying of the first of those great sub-ocean cables, the 
Atlantic Telegraph. Yet the final success which was 
achieved was considered by the people of America as the 
most important event in the history of their continent 
since its discovery in 1492. And the Times newspaper 
gave expression to much the same opinion when it said, 
" Since the discovery of Columbus nothing has been done 
in any degree comparable to the vast enlargement which 
has thus been given to the sphere of human activity.'" 

240 



THE ATLANTIC CABLE 

On both sides of the Atlantic there was mighty rejoicing ; 
America especially went wild with joy, for not only would 
she benefit enormously, but in Mr. Cyrus Field she had 
supplied the hero of the romance. And romance it was. 
As it has been well said, " It was truly a marvellous 
romance of civilisation, this Atlantic Telegraph. Even 
should our age produce nothing else, it alone would be 
the triumph of our age." Such was the feeling when, 
now more than forty years back, the first Transatlantic 
cable was laid and set to work in the service of man. We 
can have no better guide to the story of this wonderful 
enterprise than Dr. W. H. Russell, the famous Times 
correspondent. 

The first attempt to establish telegraphic communica- 
tion between Europe and America was made in 1857. 
The scheme was looked upon by many as a silly freak, 
certain to be costly, and foredoomed to failure. Not so 
thought Mr. Cyrus Field, a wealthy and energetic Ameri- 
can citizen, a man, moreover, full of high aims and lofty 
aspirations for the benefit of mankind. Not so thought 
the world-famous Professor William Thomson, far better 
known of late years by his title of Lord Kelvin. The 
latter was certain that the thing could be made a success 
electrically, and the former was equally sure that from 
an engineering point of view also success might be 
counted on. 

But all these preliminaries may be left. Towards the 
end of July two ships, the Niagara and the Agamemnon, 
with two or three thousand miles of cable on board, left 
the shores of Valentia, the most westerly part of Ireland, 
for the voyage across the wide ocean. A stirring scene it 
was when the Lord-Lieutenant himself received the shore 
end on the beach, the points of vantage near by being 
Q 241 



THE ROMANCE OF 

covered with spectators. Then the two vessels started on 
their way, the Niagara paying out the cable as she 
steamed slowly on. This ship was to carry half the 
great coil to the middle of the Atlantic, from which 
point the sister ship was to continue the task to New- 
foundland. It was August 7th, and a magnificent day. 
Everybody was in high spirits and confident of success. 
Their hopes were speedily dashed ; only five miles out an 
unfortunate hitch occurred. The cable got entangled in 
the paying-out machinery and broke. The necessary 
splicing was done, and the Niagara steamed on her way 
again. Everything went swimmingly. A hundred — two 
hundred — three hundred miles of cable had run over the 
stern into the sea. The bed of the Atlantic is shallow 
near the Irish coast, but after a couple of hundred miles 
or so, suddenly drops down to the enormous depth of 
twelve thousand feet, as if it were a mountain side. A 
mountain side it is, in sober truth, though a submerged 
one. The ships had passed this critical point, and were 
now two hundred and eighty miles from the island of 
Valentia. The length of cable paid out, however, was 
no less than three hundred and eighty miles, and it be- 
came clear that not enough allowance had been made for 
the " slack " when the length of cable needed had been 
estimated. Be that as it might, without warning the 
cable parted with a snap, the stern of the ship having 
lurched up against the portion hanging down into the 
water. Swish ! the precious cord swept into the sea and 
disappeared, to drop down, down, to the appalling depths 
of the ocean. Who can picture the scene ? No wonder 
many a strong man burst into tears. From the most 
famous scientist or engineer present to the humblest 
cabin boy, all had taken the most intense interest in the 

242 



THE ATLANTIC CABLE 

progress of the work, and all were now correspondingly 
overwhelmed with emotion. There was nothing for it 
but to steam back to Ireland, which they had so recently 
quitted with the highest hopes filling their breasts. 

The next summer, that of 1858, saw another attempt 
on the part of Mr. Field and his colleagues ; such men 
were not to be daunted. We may watch the two ships 
again together, but this time in mid- Atlantic, for the 
plan had been altered. The two halves of the cable were 
to be spliced out there, and then the vessels were to 
steam away, the Niagara on to America, the other back 
to Ireland, both paying out cable as they went. The 
splicing was done only after enormous difficulties. A 
violent storm arose, and for days the vessels were parted 
from each other. The seas ran mountains high, and the 
immense weights carried by the ships exposed them to 
fearful danger. At one time it seemed as if ships and 
men would all be sent to those profound depths to which 
it had been hoped to drop the cable yard by yard, and 
mile by mile. For seven days the hurricane raged. Then 
there came a change, and with exceeding joy the crew of 
the Niagara spied the sister ship once more approaching. 

The splicing was done, to be followed by an immediate 
breakage, a dispiriting omen ! However, a second joining 
was made, and the vessels parted company. And now a 
singular incident occurred. Towards evening a huge 
whale was seen dragging its unwieldy bulk right across 
the place where the cable was descending from the Aga- 
memnon with a great sweeping curve into the sea. The 
hearts of the watchers flew into their mouths, to use a 
common expression. Would the animal foul the cable ? 
And if so, what would be the result ? The whale grazed 
the cord, and for an instant it seemed as if the issue of 

243 



THE ROMANCE OF 

the 1858 expedition were going to be as disastrous as that 
of the previous year. Hurrah ! the cheer went up ; the 
animal had passed on, leaving the cable safe. 

A few miles had been paid out by each ship when there 
came another breakage. There was a third splicing, and 
then on again. But suddenly and all unaccountably there 
was another snap, and down went the broken end of the 
wire to the floor of the Atlantic more than two miles 
below ! There was but one thing to do, to go back for 
more cable, for one hundred and forty-four miles were 
lying lost and useless at the bottom of the ocean. It says 
volumes for the magnificent pluck and determination of 
the resolute American and his English partners that they 
did not waste an hour in repining, but hurried home so 
that the attempt might be renewed while summer still 
lasted. 

Once more the two ships met in mid-ocean, and on 
July 29th, in beautiful weather, the splicing was again 
effected. Day by day each vessel made progress, each 
day bringing the enterprise nearer to a glorious issue. 
All the while the ships were able to communicate with 
each other by means of the wire they were laying. So 
well had everything been timed, that the vessels reached 
their respective destinations on the same day, the 
Agamemnon landing at Valentia, the Niagara at Heart's 
Content, Newfoundland. Between two and three in the 
afternoon of August 18th, the first flash was sent the whole 
distance across the mighty Atlantic. The first message 
to traverse those thousands of miles of deep-submerged 
wire was this : " Glory to God in the highest ; on earth, 
peace, good will towards men ! " Then Queen Victoria 
and the President of the United States sent friendly and 
memorable congratulations to each other. Great were 

244 



THE ATLANTIC CABLE 

the rejoicings on both sides, especially across the ocean. 
" England was delighted, but America was wild with 

joy-" 

Alas ! in a day or two the current grew weak, then 
weaker, and at last ceased altogether ! The cable-laying 
had been a splendid bit of engineering work, but electri- 
cally the cable itself was a dismal failure. It was enough 
to drive the boldest heart and the most sanguine breast 
to despair. But it did not drive the promoters to despair ; 
on the contrary, they were soon planning another attempt. 
It was not, however, as it fell out, to be made for another 
seven years. 

Everybody has heard of the Great Eastern, the most 
prodigious vessel up to that time turned out by the skill 
of man. The world of a generation ago was amazed at 
the dimensions of that wonderful craft ; a stroll round her 
meant a walk of nearly three-quarters of a mile. The 
Atlantic Telegraph Company saw what an advantage it 
would be to have the whole of the cable on one ship, and 
the Great Eastern was the only craft afloat capable of 
carrying it. So three enormous tanks were fitted up in 
the ocean monster, and into these the new cable, a far 
stronger one than the former, was stowed. " It is almost 
dark at the immense depth below, and we can only 
dimly discern the human figures through whose hands 
the coil passes to its bed. Suddenly, however, the men 
begin singing. They intone a low, plaintive song of the 
sea . . . the sounds of which rise up from the dark, deep 
cavern with startling effect, and produce an indescribable 
impression." 

The shore end of the new cable was made fast to the 
rocks towering above Foilhummerum Bay, in Valentia 
Island. The cliffs were dotted with the rustic inhabitants. 

245 



THE ROMANCE OF 

" What the peasantry in the neighbourhood thought of the 
scene, not even they themselves could say ; they seem to 
have had a sort of vague idea that the cable was to carry 
them over to America, whither so many of their country- 
men had emigrated ! " The whole civilised world was in 
thought watching that scene on the rugged Valentian 
coast. A few miles out at sea the shore-end was connected 
with the main coil lying in the Great Eastern, and the 
momentous voyage began. 

Sir Robert Peel, in the speech he had made at the start, 
had trusted that no difficulties might arise to hinder the 
successful completion of the great work. It was not to be. 
A few score miles from the coast of Ireland the cable 
ceased to speak, or nearly so ; something was wrong. 
And now came a sight which had not been seen before in 
the cable-laying operations. The vast ship had been 
fitted with a " pick-up apparatus." The cable was cut and 
the end attached to a buoy, while the ship went back, 
hauling in the submerged length. Ten miles away was 
found a, place where a bit of the outer wire had been 
driven right into the core of the cable ; this was the 
offender. However, the necessary repairs were made, and 
the Great Eastern resumed her voyage. Twice or thrice did 
this sort of thing occur, until it began to be suspected that 
there was foul play somewhere. The men were closely 
questioned, but nothing could be found out as to the 
culprit. So enraged were the workmen generally, that if 
the dastardly offender had been discovered, it would not 
have been easy to prevent a lynching scene on board. One 
or other of the superior officials from this time mounted 
guard constantly at the tank. 

All went merrily now, and two-thirds of the broad 
Atlantic had been traversed. Already the men were 

246 



THE ATLANTIC CABLE 

looking forward to the rejoicings when the great task 
should have been brought to a successful termination. 
"The conviction grew," says Dr. Russell, and we can 
imagine the scene, "that the work was nearly accom- 
plished. Some were planning out journeys through the 
United States ; others speculated on the probability of 
sport in Newfoundland ; the date of our arrival was 
already determined upon. The sound of the piano, a 
tribute to our contentment, rose from the saloon ; and 
now and then the notes of a violin became entwined in 
the melodious labyrinth through which the amateur pro- 
fessors wandered with uncertain fingers. The artists 
sketched vigorously. Men stretched their legs lustily 
along the decks, or penetrated with easy curiosity for the 
first time into the recesses of the leviathan that bore 
them." 

But stay ! Here is another fault. Again the picking- 
up process must be done. The weight of the cable is 
enormous, for the ocean is here more than two miles deep. 
The strain on the wire is very great, and suddenly there 
is heard a fatal snap. A great cry goes up as the broken 
end whirs along the deck and over the vessel's stern, 
to drop into water 12,000 feet deep ! "Is anybody 
hurt ? ,1 was anxiously asked, but most fortunately all had 
escaped injury. But the lost cable! "It is enough to 
move one to tears, and when a man came with a piece of 
the end lashed still to the chain, and showed the 
tortured strands, the torn wires, the lacerated core, it is 
no exaggeration to say that a feeling of pity, as if it 
were some sentient creature which had been thus 
mutilated and dragged asunder by brutal force, moved 
the spectators." 

The task was now to pick up that lost cable. But 

247 



THE ROMANCE OF 

what a task ! How is that slender cord lying among the 
ooze of the ocean bed two thousand fathoms down to be 
felt for and seized ? And if seized, how is it to be hauled 
up again ? A huge grapnel was fastened to the end of a 
wire rope of great strength, and with this the cable was 
to be fished up, if at all. As Dr. Russell so picturesquely 
puts it, " the giant Despair was going to fish from the 
Great Eastern for a take worth, with all its belongings, 
more than a million sterling." The grapnel was allowed 
to run slowly down till no less than 15,000 feet — the 
height of Mont Blanc ! — of wire rope had gone over the 
bows. At length, after much groping, something began 
to pull. Was it some bit of wreck lying on the ocean 
bed far below, or was it the cable they were so anxiously 
seeking ? The hauling-in began ; steadily it was pursued, 
till nearly half the rope had been brought back. Then, 
without warning, one of the swivels connecting the 
different lengths of which the rope was made broke. 
Down went the cable again, and with it more than eight 
thousand feet of wire rope, as well as the grapnel ! 

The story of the second attempt need not be detailed 
at length. Once more the rope broke, and the second 
grapnel with a mile of rope went after the first. But 
the brave men determined on yet one more try. The 
smiths forged smother grapnel, and every bit of wire rope 
available on board was brought into requisition. The 
spectacle on the monster ship must have been indeed a 
strange one. To quote a few words from our authority 
once more. " The forge fires glared on the decks of the 
great ship, and there, out in the midst of the Atlantic, 
anvils rang and sparks flew. . . . Outside all was 
obscurity, but now and then vast shadows, which moved 
across the arc of the lighted fog-bank, were projected far 

248 



THE ATLANTIC CABLE 

away by the flare ; and one might well pardon the passing 
mariner, whose bark drifted him in the night across the 
track of the great ship, if, crossing himself, and praying 
with shuddering lips, he fancied he beheld a phantom ship 
freighted with an evil crew, and ever after told how he had 
seen the workshops of the Inferno floating on the bosom 
of the ocean. 1 "' 

What thoughts must have passed through the breast of 
Cyrus Field when this third — and final, as he knew it to 
be — attempt to recover the lost cable was in progress ! 
Nor were his companions less agitated. Some hid them- 
selves till success or failure should be announced ; some 
tried to read, to smoke, to sleep ; none of these things 
could they do. Those who remained to watch the opera- 
tions looked on with straining eyes, their ears painfully 
on the alert to catch the sound of a fatal snap, their 
hearts standing almost still in their excitement. Not 
often has a more thrilling time been passed, or a more 
absorbing spectacle been witnessed, than the Great 
Eastern furnished that day. Though the danger was 
absent, there was all the element of apprehension present 
that appertains to the progress of a great battle. All at 
once the whistle sounded ; something was wrong. Then 
loud cries of " Stop her ! " " Look out ! " were heard, and 
every face was agitated with emotion. " Then there was 
silence. I knew at once all was over. The machinery 
stood still in the bows, and for a moment every man was 
fixed, as if turned to stone. There, standing blank and 
mute, were the hardy, constant toilers, whose toil had 
ended at last. Our last bolt was sped; the battle was 
over. Nigh two miles more of iron coils of wire and 
rope were added to the entanglement of the great laby- 
rinth ... in the bed of the ocean."" 

249 



THE ROMANCE OF 

Thus sadly ended the operations of 1865, and the 
world judged that no more attempts would be made to 
lay an Atlantic cable. They were wrong ; the summer of 
the following year, 1866, saw the Great Eastern once 
more off the Irish coast, a new cable on board, and, what 
was more, new and far better picking-up apparatus, for it 
was intended not only to lay the fresh cable, but to find 
and complete that of the former year. 

The work was attended by the usual hopes and fears. 
Storms threatened, faults were found, and once the coil 
got itself into a tremendous tangle in the tank, a tangle 
that seemed at first to defy all unravelling, and threatened 
to cause disaster. But all was set right, and the ship 
steamed on again. Steady progress was made, the vessel 
paying out something more than a hundred miles a day. 
Newfoundland was at hand, as the deep fog shrouding the 
ocean showed. On July 27th, a memorable day, the 
Great Eastern steamed into the harbour of Heart's Con- 
tent, her task accomplished. The message was flashed 
across to the Old World that the communication between 
it and the New was complete. It was, moreover, perfect, 
for the cable gave better results electrically for every 
mile it was submerged in the cold depths of the Atlantic. 
There would be no failure of current now. 

Already the approach of the leviathan ship had been 
announced to Heart's Content by one of the supporting 
steamers of the Great Eastern, which had gone on ahead to 
tell the joyful news. The demonstrations were even 
greater and more full of delight than those which had 
greeted the temporary success of 1858, for now all doubt 
as to the capability of the cable to do its work and to 
endure had been removed. 

We may dwell for a moment on just one other scene in 

250 



THE ATLANTIC CABLE 

this great act, or rather succession of acts. The Great 
Eastern, with the Terrible and other consorts, is busy 
away back in the Atlantic grappling for the lost cable of 
1865. Nine-and-twenty times have the ships let down 
their monster hooks to catch the long-hidden cord. The 
tension has grown painful as the men drop the grapnel 
for the thirtieth time ! Surely even these brave fellows 
will give in if this also results in failure. There comes a 
tug; the hooks have caught. Carefully, slowly, hour 
after hour the hauling-in goes on, while deeper grows the 
agitation in every breast. Breathless now, they watch for 
the first glimpse of what they so ardently long to see. 
At last I Here it comes ! The cable lies safe on the 
deck ! It is covered on one side with a dark slimy mud, 
while the other side is clean and white, a proof that as it 
lay on the floor of the Atlantic the cord was only partly 
embedded in the ooze. Eagerly the scientists test the 
cable ; it is as good as ever ! 

A few more days, and two submarine cables are run- 
ning, and in splendid working order, between Europe and 
America. It is a magnificent achievement, after all the 
haps and mishaps, and all the moments when despair or 
triumph agitated the breast ; after all the adventures that 
have befallen cable, ships, men. Though there are now more 
than a dozen such cables carrying their swift messages 
beneath the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the story 
of those early attempts will always be one to stir the 
imagination. 



251 



CHAPTER XXI 
WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

Icebergs in the Atlantic— The Lady Hobart— Leaves Halifax for 
England — Strikes on an iceberg in the night — A hasty rush to the 
boats — The mails thrown overboard — Ship sinks — Emptying a 
rum cask — Danger from a school of whales — A course set for 
Newfoundland— Other icebergs— A gale — The two boats separ- 
ated—A sail ! — A delirious man tied down — Another jumps over- 
board — The captain ill — Another gale— Signs of land — Newfound- 
land at last. 

IT is not always necessary to run into Polar regions to 
meet with icebergs, as the experience of many an 
Atlantic vessel proves. Even in these days of steam 
and improved navigation, there is danger more than a 
little to be apprehended from the presence of these wan- 
dering islands, especially in times of fog or thick weather. 
As an instance of this, we may take the story of the Lady 
Hobart, one of the old Atlantic mailboats, in the days 
when steamships were not yet. 

The Hobart left Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the middle of 
the summer of 1803, under the command of Captain 
Fellowes. When three days out, the vessel encountered 
bad weather, with fog, and a heavy sea. There was, how- 
ever, so far as could be seen, no special cause for alarm, 
and the passengers and some of the crew retired for the 
night as usual. But at one o'clock in the morning every- 
body was effectually aroused by a tremendous shock. So 
violent was the concussion, says the captain in his account 

252 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

of the affair, " that several of the crew were pitched out 
of their hammocks." The skipper rushed on deck, and 
found towering far above his tallest mast, and close to 
the ship, " an island of ice." It was against this unseen 
and monster enemy that the Lady Hobart had struck. 
Instantly the helm was put about, but again the vessel 
crashed upon the huge iceberg. It is probable that she 
collided more than twice with the berg, for when at 
length the crew had got her off, her stern-post had been 
stove in, her rudder carried away, and her hull badly 
shattered. 

The seas were breaking over the vessel with great force, 
and in a few minutes the hold was filled with water. The 
situation had in that short space of time become desperate. 
But prompt action was taken. " We hove the guns over- 
board, cut away the anchors from the bows, and got two 
sails under the bottom. Both pumps were kept going, 
and we continued bailing with buckets from the main 
hatchway, in hopes of preventing the ship from sinking. 
But, in less than a quarter of an hour, she settled down 
to her fore- chains in water. Our situation was now be- 
come most perilous." The captain at once consulted with 
his master, Mr. Bargus, and Captain Thomas, an officer 
of the Royal Navy, who was a passenger. Both agreed 
that not a moment should be lost in trying to get out 
the boats, if it could be done at all in that tossing sea. 
To save the ship was plainly impossible ; it was the lives 
alone that must be thought of. 

Without a murmur the skipper's orders were obeyed ; 
the boats, the cutter and the jolly-boat, were launched, 
though with great difficulty and risk. Then, without 
panic, without selfish pushing or disorder, each waited his 
or her turn to embark. Into the cutter were first placed 

253 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

the three ladies the ship's company included. One of 
these, in her haste to get into the boat, sprang from the 
deck and fell violently to the bottom. It was a marvel 
that she neither injured herself seriously nor smashed the 
craft, to the danger of herself and the rest. All this 
time the ship was sinking lower and lower in the water, 
and by the time the boats were filled, only the quarter- 
deck showed above the surface. At any instant even that 
might disappear. 

But there was much to be done yet. The mails, in 
their water-tight case, were first ballasted with pigs of 
iron and then thrown overboard, possibly to be recovered 
some day. Then hurriedly some provisions were tossed 
into the boats, forty or fifty pounds of biscuit, a vessel 
containing five gallons of water, a five-gallon cask of rum, 
a quantity of spruce beer, and a few bottles of wine, a 
scanty supply for a company of twenty-nine persons. 
Two compasses, a quadrant, and a telescope were also 
taken. An episode Captain Fellowes thinks well worth 
recording occurred at this time. One of the seamen was 
observed emptying out a five-gallon bottle of rum, to the 
astonishment of the captain. The man, however, pro- 
ceeded to fill the empty vessel with water from a cask 
on the quarter-deck, the only available supply now. And 
this was the only water the boats had with them. The 
thoughtfulness of the sailor, who sacrificed the sailors' 1 
favourite drink for water, was praiseworthy. The last to 
leave the ship was Mr. Bargus, the master, who had 
utterly refused to precede the skipper. It was not a 
moment too soon. 

" We had scarce quitted the ship when she gave a 
heavy lurch to port, and then went down head foremost. 
I had ordered the colours to be hoisted at the main-top - 

254 




Pursued by Whales 

An immense school of whales pursued the boats, keeping the crews in mortal dread. 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

gallant mast-head, with the Union downwards, as a signal 
of distress, that if any vessel should happen to be near 
us at the dawn of day, our calamitous situation might 
attract observation from her and relief be afforded us. At 
this awful crisis of the ship sinking, when fear might be 
supposed to be the predominant principle of the human 
mind, a British seaman, named John Andrews, exhibited 
uncommon coolness : ' There, my brave fellows, 1 he ex- 
claimed, ' there goes the pride of old England ! ' " A 
pathetic spectacle it was, a gallant ship foundering under 
the towering heights of the iceberg that had brought 
destruction to her; two boats, weighed down almost to 
the water's level with their human freights, tossing on the 
agitated sea, no land nearer than hundreds of miles, and 
not a sail in sight ! 

A strange incident accompanied the sinking of the 
Lady Hobart. An immense school of whales came crowd- 
ing round the doomed wreck and the neighbouring boats. 
These monsters of the deep, by their unwieldy antics, 
might send to the bottom every soul in the little craft. 
Instantly the men set up a loud whistling and shouting, 
and did all they knew to drive the animals away, but it 
was to no purpose. The whales pursued the boats for a 
full half-hour, and kept the occupants in mortal dread, 
I frequent instances having occurred, in the fishery, of boats 
being cut in twain by the force of a single blow from a 
whale." At last, to their infinite relief, the shipwrecked 
crews were left in peace, and uninjured. 

Captain Fellowes now resolved to steer for Newfoundland, 
which he estimated to be about three hundred and fifty miles 
distant, bearing almost due west. It was a disheartening 
prospect that was before them ; provisions small in quantity, 
and water scarcer still ; seas rough and often shrouded in 

255 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

fog ; boats crowded to their fullest capacity, there being 
eighteen persons in the cutter and eleven in the jolly-boat ; 
and, to make matters worse, the wind dead against them. 
But it was the only chance of saving their lives, so far 
as they could see. The men all agreed to the captain's 
suggestions as to the economising of their stock of eat- 
ables and drinkables. The allowance to each person 
per diem was but half a biscuit and a glass of wine. 
The water they decided not to touch at all except in case 
of the direst emergency. A sail was rigged up for the 
cutter, and the smaller boat was taken in tow. Crowded 
and cramped to such a degree that a man could with 
difficulty get his hand into his pocket, the unfortunate 
folk had before thern the prospect of many days of hunger, 
of raging thirst, of exposure to the dashing seas. 

What other dangers they were threatened by they did 
not need reminding of. Before many hours had passed 
they found themselves in the neighbourhood of another 
iceberg. Luckily it was broad daylight, and they avoided 
it. Later in the day they fell in with yet another of 
these dangerous rovers, and this also they kept clear of. 
But what would happen should they in the darkness of 
the night drive in upon yet another ! And that they 
were likely enough to meet with more of the icebergs they 
were well aware. So they passed a sleepless night, and 
the morning found them cramped, cold, and miserable. 
Some of their biscuit had been damaged by the sea- water 
they had shipped, so that even the meagre allowance they 
had settled upon had to be still further reduced. Half a 
glassful of rum to each helped to restore the circulation 
a little, and even the ladies found the benefit of it when, 
after several refusals, they were prevailed upon to take 
their share of the spirit. The skipper induced his men 

256 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

to work hard at the oars, and for two reasons — to help 
the cutter to make more way than she could by sail 
merely, in a breeze but slightly favourable, and also to 
keep the warmth in their bodies. 

In truth, they all needed something to keep up the 
circulation. Though it was summer time, the weather 
was intensely cold. Fogs and sleet made the atmosphere 
very raw, and the spray, which almost incessantly flew 
over them, began to freeze as it fell, making their posi- 
tion almost unendurable. Matters grew rapidly from bad 
to worse when a gale sprang up. The tempest increased 
to such an extent that it was no longer safe to keep the 
two boats near each other, and the jolly-boat had to be 
cut adrift. Very soon she was out of sight, to the great 
distress of those in the cutter. " The uncertainty of ever 
again meeting the companions of our misfortunes excited 
the most acute affliction. To add to the misery of our 
situation, we lost, along with the boat, not only a con- 
siderable quantity of our store, but with them our quad- 
rant and spy-glass. The gale increasing with a prodigious 
heavy sea, we brought the cutter to, about four in the 
afternoon, by heaving the boat's sail loose over the bow, 
and veering it out with a rope bent to each yard-arm, 
which kept her head to the sea, so as to break its force 
before it reached us." 

The sixth day of their exposure came, and the captain 
estimated that St. John's, Newfoundland, was now less 
than a hundred and fifty miles distant, so that they had 
covered some two hundred from the scene of the wreck. 
The heroism of the ladies especially was beyond all praise, 
and did not a little to cheer the men and keep them to 
their work. But it had rained all night, and the condi- 
tion of the poor creatures had become truly deplorable. 

R 257 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

" The cold became so severe that hardly one in the boat 
was able to move. Our hands and feet were so swelled 
that many of them became quite black, owing to our 
confined state and the constant exposure to wet and cold 
weather. At daybreak I served out about a third of a 
wine-glass of rum to each person, with a quarter of a 
biscuit, and before noon a small quantity of spruce-beer, 
which afforded us great relief." As the day wore on, the 
wind abated, and the cold became less intense, though 
still severe. 

That forenoon a sail was observed in the distance, over- 
joying the shipwrecked folk. The sight seemed to put 
new life into them, and every effort was made to attract 
attention. The skipper tied a lady's shawl to the boat- 
hook, and, getting up as well as his feeble condition 
would let him, he waved it till he could wave no longer. 
The other craft came nearer. Then, to their exceeding 
surprise, they perceived that it was their own jolly-boat 
that was approaching, her crew having managed to rig up 
some sort of sail. What conflicting emotions struggled 
in their breasts at this discovery ! What a disappoint- 
ment to men and women who had so fervently trusted 
that the much-hoped-for deliverance was at hand ! Yet 
what a delight to find once more their companions, who 
in this marvellous way had come back to them after many 
days and nights of separation on the bosom of the 
boundless ocean ! A more equal distribution of the food 
and drink between the respective boats was now made, 
and it was determined that the two should not again 
separate, except under the most urgent necessity. 

Notwithstanding the joy of meeting again, and the 
fact that they were now but a little more than a hundred 
miles from St. John's, it was a miserable time that 

258 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

succeeded. " The cold, wet, and hunger, which we ex- 
perienced the following day, are not to be described,' 1 
says the skipper. Some of the men, in spite of every 
warning and entreaty, began to drink a good deal of salt 
water. More than one became delirious, while others 
were seized with violent internal pains. Worse was still 
to come. Amongst the company were the skipper and 
two of the crew of a French schooner, which the Lady 
Hobart had captured at an early stage of the voyage, for 
it was a time of war between Britain and France. One 
of the French sailors now became so violent in his de- 
lirium that he had to be tied down in the jolly-boat. 
The French captain had supposed, on the wreck of the Lady 
Hobart) that he and his fellow-prisoners would be left to 
perish. That notion could never have occurred to a man 
like Captain Fellowes, and he had in all respects treated 
the poor Frenchmen as his own crew. But the French 
master had grown more despondent every day, and at 
last he suddenly sprang into the sea from the cutter, in a 
fit of madness. He sank in a moment and never appeared 
again above the surface. Had it been otherwise, nothing 
could have been done for the unfortunate man, at the 
speed with which the cutter was tearing through the 
water, and with the oars lashed, as they were, to the gun- 
wale. This first loss of life greatly affected nearly all 
the survivors, and many began from this time to fear the 
very worst issue for the whole party. 

Most of them were more or less unwell by this time, 
and the captain, who had been the mainstay of the com- 
pany, himself fell seriously ill. He had violent shivering 
fits at intervals ; he could take no nourishment, and grew 
feverish and delirious. His companions were alarmed, 
naturally enough, but the patient dropped into a pro- 

259 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

found sleep, which lasted for several hours, and when he 
woke again, he was bathed in perspiration. But he felt 
much better ; the fever had subsided a good deal, and 
there was hope for him. This illness caused the deepest 
anxiety to the rest, for the captain's case might at any 
hour be that of others, and no man knew if, should he 
be attacked, he would emerge with results equally favour- 
able. 

Bad weather was experienced all along, and it was as 
much as the miserable people could do to keep down, by 
baling, the water which was constantly being shipped. 
The baling had to be done without interruption, by day 
as well as by night, yet few of the sailors had strength 
enough to do the work at all. So far as sun and warmth 
were concerned, the day was little better than the night ; 
only once during the whole time of their exposure did 
the sun show himself to them. Another gale bore down 
upon the unhappy creatures, a gale " accompanied with 
so tremendous a sea, that the greatest vigilance was 
necessary in managing the helm, for the boats would have 
broached to from the slightest deviation, and occasioned 
our inevitable destruction. We scudded before the wind, 
expecting every returning wave to overwhelm us; but, 
through the Providence of God, we weathered the storm, 
which, towards night, began to abate.'" Nothing need be 
added to the simplicity of this account ; the horrors of 
the situation can be but feebly imagined by one who has 
not gone through a like experience. The mere discomforts 
of the wind, the cold, and the wet were enough to send 
the sufferers into a serious illness. As for the crew, the 
poor fellows were in worse case even than the handful of 
passengers. Such sleep as they got they took as they lay 
in the water at the bottom of the boats. 

260 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

By their reckoning, necessarily imperfect, but the best 
they could make under the circumstances, they estimated 
that they ought now to be near St. John's. But the fog 
was so dense that it was impossible to see more than 
a few yards ahead. There was great danger lest the 
boats might unexpectedly run aground, and this might 
occur at a point where destruction was certain. Some 
parts of the Newfoundland coast are rocky and dangerous, 
and to avoid these was now all the care of the ship- 
wrecked. Yet they welcomed with delight the signs of 
the near neighbourhood of land that were observed — bits 
of rock-weed floating by, a land bird which came and 
settled on their very boats for an instant or two. It was 
plain they were well under the shadow of Newfoundland, 
and the captain called for a last and special effort from 
his men. " It was strongly urged to them that should 
the wind come off the shore in the morning, and drive us 
to leeward, all exertions to regain it might then be too 
late, as, independent of our feeble state, the provisions, 
with all possible economy, could not last more than two 
days, and the water, which had as yet remained un- 
touched, except in the instances before mentioned, could 
not hold out much longer. We had been six days and 
nights constantly wet and cold, and without any other 
sustenance than the quarter of a biscuit and one wine- 
glass of liquid for twenty-four hours. The men, who had 
appeared totally indifferent respecting their fate, now 
summoned up resolution ; and as many as were capable of 
moving from the bottoms of the boats betook themselves 
to the oars." 

All night they rowed, but were obliged, with the 
freshening breeze, to cut adrift the jolly-boat again, and, 
when morning came, those in the cutter could see no 

261 



WRECKED ON AN ICEBERG 

sign of their companions, so thick was the fog that pre- 
vailed. Presently a sound as of the firing of guns was 
heard, and the men concluded with joy that they were 
close to land. Singularly enough, however, the noise was 
afterwards ascertained to be only the blowing of whales. 
At last the fog cleared and the sun shone out, and in a 
moment eager eyes spied land less than a mile away. It 
was near Kettle Cove, in Conception Bay. " I wish that 
it were possible for me," writes the skipper, " to describe 
our sensations at this interesting moment. . . . The joy 
at speedy relief affected us all in a most remarkable way. 
Many burst into tears ; some looked at each other with a 
stupid stare, as if doubtful of the reality of what they 
saw ; while some were in so lethargic a condition, that no 
consolation, no animating words, could rouse them to 
exertion. 

A service of thanksgiving was at once held on board 
the cutter, and the captain did what he had not dared to 
do before, except in one or two isolated cases ; he gave 
each person a drink of water, yet not too much, for he 
well knew the danger attending too free an indulgence 
after a long period of privation. Soon, to the joy of all, 
they saw their jolly-boat coming to meet them, and with 
her a schooner. The worst of the troubles for the ship- 
wrecked crew were over. The people on shore flocked in 
hundreds to see the boats, and helped to carry ashore the 
poor fellows, many of whom were unable to walk at all. 
The captain says, and the statement may well be believed, 
that " nothing could exceed their surprise on seeing the 
boats that had carried nine-and-twenty persons such a 
distance over a boisterous sea ; and when they beheld so 
many miserable objects, they could not conceal emotions 
of pity and concern." 

262 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE 
WATERS 

The Alceste and the Lyra in the Canton estuary — A critical time — 
Insults from the Canton Viceroy — Visit from a mandarin, who 
promises a "Chop" — A second mandarin — A game of bluff — 
John Bull begins to roar — The frigate opposed by war-junks — 
British open fire — A telling shot — Attack on the shore batteries 
—Battery knocked to pieces — The first-class Chop arrives in 
haste — Maxwell with four men rows to Canton — The Lyra sur- 
rounded by junks — Threatening neighbours—" Pigeon English " — 
Flight of the Chinese commodore— The British ships masters of 
the situation. 

EARLY in the month of November, 1816, the 
British frigate Alceste, under the command of 
Captain Maxwell, accompanied by the brig Lyra, 
Captain Hall, sailed for the mouth of the great estuary 
of the Canton River, and anchored off the island of 
Lintin. They were bound on an important and, it might 
be, a ticklish errand. Without dwelling on the history of 
the events just previous, it may be said that the British 
Ambassador, Lord Amherst, was about to leave China, 
diplomatic relations between that country and Britain 
having been broken off, and the Chinese authorities 
seemed disposed to be very insulting. 

Captain Maxwell, in charge of the expedition, received 
two messages, one from the British factory at Canton, 
which lies far up the estuary, complaining that British 

263 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

subjects were being treated with scorn and contumely by 
the Chinese inhabitants. The other was a message of a 
grossly insulting character from the Viceroy of Canton, 
ordering the British ships to remain outside the estuary, 
and as far back as the Ladrone Islands. The Viceroy 
went on to say that the Ambassador must reach the 
British ships out there as best he could, for he would 
not be permitted to take boat either in the Canton River 
or in the estuary. Whether this order came from the 
Emperor himself, or only from his subordinate at Canton, 
Captain Maxwell did not know, but he strongly suspected 
the latter. 

Now the British commander, emphatically a "strong" 
man, as will shortly appear, was one of those who 
held an admirable control over his temper, but this dis- 
graceful mandate was too much even for him. On a 
former occasion, the then Ambassador, Lord Macartney, 
had carried his ships as far up the inlet as Wampoa, and 
Maxwell was determined to do the like, whatever any- 
body might say. However, he was presently visited on 
board his ship by a mandarin, who spoke smoothly, and 
promised that in the course of a day or two there should 
arrive a Chop, that is, a written permission to enter the 
estuary. But a second mandarin, of higher rank, followed 
closely on the heels of the other, and he expressly forbade 
the ships to leave the open sea. Captain Maxwell tried 
to argue with the man, pointing out how inconvenient it 
would be to Lord Amherst to get himself on board the 
Alceste under the conditions the Chinese were imposing; 
and further, how insulting such an order was to the 
representative of a great empire such as Britain was. 

It was soon plain that the mandarin had come in order 
to see of what sort of stuff the British commander was 

264 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

made ; and his game was partly one of " bluff," and 
partly to put the greatest amount of insult on him and 
his flag that the captain would stand. Maxwell saw 
through it all, and lost no time in giving the official a 
bit of plain, straightforward speaking. The mandarin 
was directed to tell his superiors that the ships would 
ascend to Wampoa, in spite of the Viceroy, or even the 
Emperor himself. He further asked indignantly what 
the first mandarin meant by promising a Chop. 

" Oh," coolly replied the Chinaman, " that officer 
happens to be partly a fool, and partly a wit ; he was 
only quizzing you." 

" Well," answered Maxwell, with a roar that made the 
mandarin quiver to the very button of his cap, " I advise 
his Excellency not to attempt to pass any such humours 
on me." 

But the mandarin had another shot in his locker, and 
he now with the utmost effrontery informed the captain 
that the Chinese authorities required the warships to 
furnish a satisfactory security-merchant, that is, a mer- 
chant of high standing in China, who would make him- 
self responsible for the good behaviour of the crews of 
foreign ships while they were in Chinese seas. This was 
a requirement that applied only to mercantile shipping, 
as the wily Chinaman well knew ; never had such a thing 
been heard of in the case of a war vessel. It was clear 
that a gross insult was intended. 

" Let me hear that again, if you please," said Maxwell 
with admirable calmness, though he was getting warm, 
and the mandarin repeated the order. 

"Are you aware that this is a ship of war — King 
George the Third of England's frigate Alceste?" thun- 
dered the captain. 

265 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

" I did not know, 1 ' pretended the mandarin, beginning 
to be frightened ; " I merely wished to learn what sort of 
goods — what cargo you carry." 

Captain Maxwell struck the table with his heavy fist 
till it fairly danced, as he replied, " Cargo, sir ! Powder 
and shot, sir, are the cargo of a British man-of-war! 
Did you see his Majesty's pennant flying at the mast- 
head ? If not, take a good look at it on your way back, 
and tell the Viceroy that you have seen a flag which has 
never been dishonoured — and please God, while it waves 
over my head, it never shall be ! " 

Probably no more singular scene was ever witnessed on 
board a British battleship. The effect on the Chinaman 
was extraordinary. " When Captain Maxwell began this 
address, the mandarin opened his eyes and stared 
amazedly at him ; then rose half off his seat, and pres- 
ently, with his hands shaking, as if the cold fit of an 
ague had overtaken him, doffed his cap of office, and gave 
a glance over his shoulder towards the stern windows, to 
see whether in extremity he had any chance of making 
his escape. As Captain Maxwell approached his climax 
about the flag, and struck the table a second time, the 
mandarin and the interpreter both retreated, step by step, 
as far as the sides of the cabin permitted them, where 
they stood with uplifted hands, quite aghast and in an 
ecstasy of terror. " 

The mandarin was thoroughly scared. Yet Captain 
Hall, who was also present, saw by the twinkle in Max- 
well's eye that he was inwardly laughing. The official 
was very humble for the rest of the interview, and 
promised that the necessary Chop should be sent on the 
twenty-third day of the moon, "a grand Chop of the 
first order," giving full permission to enter the bay. In a 

266 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

mighty hurry the mandarin and his interpreter then de- 
parted. 

Captain Maxwell was well aware that no such permis- 
sion would be forthcoming, and he was fully prepared to 
take a strong course, and sail up the estuary as he had 
stated he would. It was a serious responsibility, for it 
meant no less than a declaration of war, and moreover, as 
the Ambassador and numbers of other British subjects 
were in the enemy's power, the consequences to them 
might be deplorable indeed. 

The day named arrived, but it brought no Chop. Not 
to appear too precipitate, Maxwell waited till next day, 
and then, leaving the Lyra behind, calmly sailed into the 
estuary, an arm of the sea of considerable size, forty 
miles wide at its mouth, and gradually narrowing till, 
some sixty or seventy miles up, it shrinks to the dimen- 
sions of a very large river. He found drawn up to 
oppose him a fleet of seventeen war-junks of large size, 
each carrying sixty men and some half-dozen guns. On 
shore were several batteries, all of which appeared to be 
crowded with men. Altogether the array was formidable, 
but Maxwell sailed on as if nothing had happened. 
Then a ludicrous thing was seen — ludicrous, but meant to 
be in the highest degree insulting. There put off from 
the Chinese fleet, a single sampan, or small skiff; it was 
rowed by an old woman, and carried the interpreter who 
had accompanied the mandarin on board the Alceste the 
other day. This fellow stepped on deck with a great 
swagger, and informed the captain that he had brought 
an order from the Chinese Admiral for the frigate to 
anchor immediately. Maxwell was a good deal tickled, 
and said in the " pigeon English '" employed in those seas, 
" Suppose no do — what then ? " 

267 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

" Then I thinkee," replied the interpreter, with just a 
twinkle in the corner of his eye, " I thinkee that my great 
mandarin there sinkee your ship." 

At this moment, as if to enforce the words of the 
linguist, the Admiral sent a shot across the bows of the 
Alceste. Maxwell took no notice. Then another roar, 
and a second shot came along. Thus the firing continued, 
till every ship in the enemy's line had discharged at least 
one gun. The British captain, with marvellous good 
temper and ready wit, calmly thanked the interpreter for 
the honour of the salute! This, although every gun of 
the Chinese had been shotted ! And he ordered three 
guns, loaded with powder only, to be fired in reply. But 
the Admiral would have none of it, and at once a heavy 
fire began from the whole of the fleet. The Chinamen 
worked their cannon with spirit and rapidly, and it 
seemed as if the frigate were in for serious damage. But 
with astonishing coolness Captain Maxwell sailed on, 
heeding the enemy no more than if they had been a 
swarm of flies. It was a strange scene. Balls flew just 
ahead of the Alceste, just astern of her, right over her; 
yet not a single shot struck her. Whether it was bad 
gunnery, or what boys would call " funk " on the part of 
the Admiral, it was impossible to say. 

A little farther on the frigate was compelled to anchor, 
the wind dropping and the tide running out fast. The 
war-junks thereupon took up their positions not far away, 
and threw out their anchors also. Then, strange to re- 
late, they went on firing as before, and with similar 
results. Captain Maxwell, who had now a little more 
time at his disposal, determined to have some fun with 
the warlike Admiral. So he loaded a thirty -two pounder 
on the quarter-deck, and prepared to fire it himself. It 

268 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

must here be explained that in case damage was done by 
an enemy's gun, the Chinese always demanded that the 
man who fired it should be handed over to them — the 
actual man, and not the officer who gave him the com- 
mand. Maxwell meant that in this case there should be 
no dispute as to the right man, and accordingly fired the 
first shot himself. " The gun was aimed so that the shot 
should pass over the centre of the commander-in-chief's 
junk. The effect was instantaneous and most ludicrous ; 
the crews, not only of this vessel, but of the whole line, 
fell flat on their faces . . . while the Admiral in person 
was seen for a moment actually in the air, into which he 
had leaped in the extremity of his amazement, and in the 
next instant he lay prostrate on the deck. So remarkable 
was this exhibition that Captain Maxwell at first feared 
he had pointed the gun too low, and actually killed the 
poor mandarin ; while the sailors, who were in ecstasies 
with the sight, exclaimed that the captain had shot away 
the China Admiral's head." Nothing so serious as that 
had taken place, however ; but the effect was just the 
same as if it had, for every Chinese gun was instantly 
stopped. 

So far the Britishers had decidedly scored. But they 
were not yet out of the fray. A little later that evening 
the frigate was under way again. She was steered for a 
narrower part of the estuary known as the Bogue, or the 
mouth. But the enemy were still on the alert. " The 
topsails were hardly sheeted home before a flight of 
rockets, and a signal gun from the fleet, announced that 
night or day the passage was to be disputed. In the 
next instant there was a simultaneous flash of light from 
one end to the other of the batteries . . . sky-rockets 
were thrown up in every direction, and all the embrasures 

269 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

were illuminated in the most brilliant manner.* This 
demonstration instantly brought every man of the frigate's 
crew to his place. It was plain that the enemy meant no 
more play. 

In fact, the very first shot the enemy now fired told its 
tale, striking the Alceste in the bows, and low down. 
Soon another well-aimed ball tore away one of the mizen- 
shrouds, and then went through the spanker. In short, 
the Chinese began to give a very good account of them- 
selves, and Captain Maxwell says that it really put him 
in mind of old times again. Still, by the captain's ex- 
press orders, not a single shot by way of reply was fired 
by the British. The men were to wait till he gave the 
signal by himself firing one of the quarter-deck guns. 
This order must have been galling to the sailors, but the 
commander had higher game at which he proposed to fly 
— higher game than the junks arrayed against him. He 
steered right upon the most formidable of the shore 
batteries, that of Annanhoy, and waited till he was with- 
in less than half a musket shot of it. Then the quarter- 
deck spoke, and with effect ; and instantly the main-deck 
and forecastle guns followed suit. 

The effect on the battery was seen at once. Portions 
of the works were carried away, and whole ranks of 
cannon were silenced. The very first broadside brought 
about a curious and indeed a laughable scene. At once 
the Chinese defenders rushed in large batches from the 
spot, each man carrying a paper lantern. It was, of 
course, dark long before this time. Up the slopes above 
the battery the Celestials swarmed, each perfectly dis- 
tinguishable by his little light, till the hillside was 
covered as if with a multitude of glorified glow-worms. 
The temptation to the British tars to pick off these con- 

270 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

spicuous objects was too severe to be resisted. But the 
captain was too quick for his men. Springing upon the 
poop, he called out that not a shot was to be fired at 
those runaways ; that, in fact, they had come to silence 
the batteries, not to kill as many Chinamen as possible. 

Maxwell did not cease his work till the fort of Annan- 
hoy had been silenced and pretty well knocked to pieces. 
This done, he sailed on, and presently anchored for the 
night, undisturbed by either boat or battery. The results 
were not long in showing themselves ; a mandarin of still 
higher rank came in hot haste from the Canton Viceroy, 
to say that the Alceste might advance as far as her com- 
mander pleased ; and, moreover, that the Lyra might also 
come, if Captain Maxwell desired to send for her ; in 
short, that as many boats as the British wished might 
pass the Bogue. The civility now shown was remarkable. 
An amusing fact was afterwards reported ; a special Chop, 
or proclamation, was, by the Viceroy's orders, posted in 
Canton itself, to the effect that the Alceste had come up 
by his Excellency's express permission ! 

And now the British commander did a bold thing ; the 
step he took, in truth, was one of the most dangerous 
character, if matters should go wrong. Taking with him 
only four rowers, he travelled in a small boat the thirty 
and odd miles that lay between the frigate and the city 
of Canton. None ventured to molest him on his way, 
and when he landed on the quay he was received with 
delighted cheers by the handful of folk connected with 
the British factory. As for the natives, they had crowded 
to the spot in countless thousands, all bent on seeing 
what manner of man it was who had thus ventured to 
brave the whole Chinese Empire. Maxwell stepped along 
amongst them, regarding them with no more concern than 

271 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

he might a field of poppies. His undaunted bearing saved 
him; had he shown the smallest sign of fear there can be no 
doubt that he would have been torn to pieces by a howling 
mob. As it was, one look was sufficient for the Celestials, 
and in a trice the crowds were scuttling off in all direc- 
tions. The Chinamen were, in fact, as Captain Hall 
describes, " in as much amaze as if a tiger from the woods 
had sprung amongst them." 

All this time the Lyra, by the commander's orders, was 
at Typa, a mile or two from Macao, on the south side of 
the Canton inlet. Hardly had she taken up her position 
there when a huge Chinese vessel, mounting seven guns, 
anchored near her. It was by far the largest junk the 
British crews had ever seen, being four or five times the 
size of the Lyra. Such a neighbour, to say the least of 
it, was not exactly welcome. But before their surprise 
had ceased, "another still larger dropped anchor under 
our stern ; presently another took his station on the bow, 
and one on the quarter, till in the course of half an hour 
we found ourselves fairly encaged by these immense 
vessels." One of the Chinamen brought up actually 
within the Lyra's buoy, and things began to assume an 
ugly aspect. Captain Hall had only ten guns, but they 
were of much larger calibre than those of the enemy, 
being, in fact, thirty-two pounders. With these he pre- 
pared to show fight, if necessary, and to withstand with 
his single brig the whole of this great armament. What 
he would have done had two or three of the huge junks 
borne down on opposite sides of him he did not know. 
" The poor Lyra? he says, " must have been crushed like 
an egg-shell." 11 Notwithstanding this, as soon as he was 
ready for action, Hall sent a request to the nearest of the 
junks to move farther away, and it was with some relief 

272 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

he saw the Chinaman obey. Still the crowd of junks 
continued to hem in the warship, and every morning and 
evening there was a great muster of the crews, with much 
beating of gongs, all no doubt intended to frighten the 
strangers. Captain Hall, in his account, makes light of 
it, but his situation must have been in the highest degree 
dangerous. 

All at once, and most unexpectedly on both sides, 
there came a change. News reached the Chinese crews 
of what the Alceste had done away in the estuary. The 
effect was extraordinary ; in the utmost hurry and con- 
fusion they all weighed anchor, and went off pell-mell into 
the harbour of Macao, where they clustered so close 
together that the junks actually jostled each other, for 
all the world like a flock of sheep, says Hall. 

Orders from Maxwell reached the Lyra in due course 
she was to join the Alceste. On the way Captain Hall 
was to hold communication with no Chinaman, under 
any pretence whatever. As soon as the brig began to 
move, the junks ventured to peep out of their harbour, 
and to follow at a respectful distance. Presently the 
Chinese commodore himself proposed to pay a visit to 
Captain Hall, a visit which the Englishman civilly 
declined. Not to be put off, however, the commodore 
had himself rowed alongside, and one of his men, an 
interpreter, began to climb up the Lyra's side, explaining 
as he did so, that the great mandarin was come " about 
the ship's pigeon ! " Hall was puzzled, and replied that 
the ship had got no pigeon. He did not then know that 
"pigeon" was the common Chinese rendering of the 
English word business, and that the expression "pigeon 
English" means simply business English, the language 
mostly used in mercantile matters out there. By this 
9 273 



THE ALCESTE IN CHINESE WATERS 

time the commodore himself was seen climbing up the 
side of the vessel, two or three other men with him, and 
the captain thought it was time they were stopped. 

" Here, my lads," he said to his men, " put this gentle- 
man into his boat again." 

"In an instant a couple of strapping fellows, who 
liked no better sport, leaped up, and would have tumbled 
the poor Chinese over the gangway in a trice, had I not 
caught their arms. The interpreter, seeing what was 
going to happen, made a wise and precipitate retreat, 
dragging the commander-in-chief along with him by the 
tail, and screaming to the boatmen to shove off." 

Captain Hall, it may be added, was accompanied on his 
whole passage by an ever-increasing crowd of hostile 
boats, yet, in spite of several threatenings, none dared to 
attack him, and he duly joined his superior in command. 
In the end Lord Amherst embarked on board the Alceste, 
and the two British warships left Chinese waters as 
conquerors. 



274 



CHAPTER XXIII 
A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

The England, a Newcastle timber vessel — Leaves Quebec — A beauti- 
ful aurora borealis — A fearful hurricane — The wheel shattered — 
Ship full of water — The timber cargo keeps her afloat — Crew take 
to the rigging — The intense cold — Famine staring the men in the 
face — A terrible Christmas and New Year — A sail — Jolly-boat in 
chase, but misses it — Another sail — Boat off again — The boat lost 
and in a fog — Picked up by a brig — In search of the England — 
Found at last— Landed on one of the Azores. 

IT sometimes happens that the cargo of a ship is of 
such a character that no matter how full the vessel 
may be of water, it will not sink, so long as its planks 
hold together ; and in such a case the wreck, though un- 
manageable, may keep afloat for weeks or months, and 
drift over almost the whole extent of a great ocean. A 
conspicuous example of this was seen when the England, 
a Newcastle timber vessel, was wrecked in the Atlantic, 
in the winter of 1835-6. 

The England, of four hundred tons burden, left Quebec 
early in November, her destination Greenock. Her cargo 
consisted entirely of timber, and she had but one pas- 
senger. A very nasty snowstorm delayed the vessel for a 
day in the St. Lawrence, but otherwise the voyage was 
prosperous enough for the first tv/o or three weeks. In 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, however, there was a splendid 
exhibition of the aurora borealis, the colour a deep red. 
This the skipper and the mate regarded as the sure pre- 

275 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

cursor of very bad weather, beautiful though the spectacle 
might be. They had never before seen a display where 
the colour was of such a deep blood-red, and they argued 
that the coming storm would be one of exceptional 
severity. The passenger was inclined to smile at all this, 
when several days passed by without any sign of a storm 
arising. 

But the old salts were right ; presently a strong north- 
west wind began to blow, rapidly increasing in force till 
it became at last a hurricane of the most awful descrip- 
tion. The fore-topsails were reefed, and two men were 
placed at the wheel instead of the usual one. To attempt 
to steer a course was quite out of the question, and all 
the captain could do was to let the ship drive before the 
wind. The skipper himself unfortunately was ill, and the 
management of the England fell to the mate. The seas 
were now tremendous, and the vessel laboured heavily, 
causing the captain in his cabin great anxiety. To heave- 
to would be fatal, he and the mate agreed, and the only 
thing was to let the ship go. The solitary passenger sat 
by the cabin fire as the darkness closed in, but he was too 
uneasy to sit for long at a time, and ran up on deck every 
now and then to see how the weather was. The violence 
of the tempest increased as the hours passed slowly by. 

Suddenly "a tremendous sea broke over the stern of 
the vessel, carrying destruction before it. The wheel 
came down with a crash through the cabin sky-light in 
broken fragments, and in an instant we were in total 
darkness. The floor of our cabin was almost immediately 
covered with water, and a scene of horror and confusion 
ensued which beggars description." The two who had 
been at the wheel rushed down the companion-ladder, 
having luckily escaped destruction when the overwhelm- 

276 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

ing wave had borne down upon them. They had 
managed to seize something and hold on for their lives. 
The rest of the crew likewise speedily tumbled down into 
the captain's cabin, but he, poor man, could do nothing. 
For a few moments all was in blackest darkness, but 
somebody produced dry tinder, and a light was obtained. 
Then all except the skipper rushed on deck again, to see 
what was the state of things there, and a terrible state 
they found it to be ; " the hammocks swept overboard, 
with the greater part of the bulwarks ; the water-casks 
broke loose and going to pieces. r> 

The first step was to lash the helm and keep the ship 
to ; then the pumps were immediately manned and kept 
at full work, the vessel having been found to be leaking 
badly. The passenger took his turn with the crew, and 
the pumping was continued vigorously all night, the men, 
to their joy, just able to keep the depth of water in the 
hold from increasing. Morning light revealed more 
serious damage still ; the rudder was smashed and scarce 
held together. Such a discovery was one to blanch the 
face of the stoutest man on board. And the case was 
made far worse by the behaviour of the broken helm, 
which "kept flapping violently against the stern of the 
vessel, at every blow breaking and opening the seams of 
the ship." Before the shattered rudder fell to pieces and 
dropped into the sea, the damage done was very great. 
In fact, the water was rushing in torrents through the 
broken stern of the ship. It was useless to go on pump- 
ing now, and it was perfectly impossible to stop the leaks 
or to repair the broken timbers. 

Had the England's cargo been anything but timber, or 
some such buoyant material, her end would have been 
speedy, and her crew would either have gone down with 

277 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

her, or would have been exposed in small boats in the 
middle of the Atlantic, and that in the winter time. As 
it was, the men were well aware that though the water 
might fill her — and that was now only an affair of 
minutes — she would float, and possibly, if the weather 
held good, for a considerable time. The story of the 
wreck of the England, accordingly, differs somewhat 
from those of the ordinary kind. She was not likely to 
sink just yet, and there was no coast near on which she 
might be driven. So the crew prepared to do the best 
they could under the circumstances, namely, to live in the 
rigging, for the deck would not, except in very calm 
weather, be available. The ship was already so far down 
in the water that every tiny wave rolled across her deck. 
So the men hauled a quantity of provisions, biscuit and 
pork mainly, and water, up under the mainmast, and 
snatched what covering they could in the shape of great- 
coats and blankets. All this had to be done with feverish 
haste, for the seas were breaking violently over the vessel 
at every moment, each wave threatening to carry off some 
unfortunate sailor. 

And what a time and place in which to live in the 
rigging ! They were off the bank of Newfoundland, and 
the weather was intensely cold, with storms and fog 
frequent, the showers that came being for the most part 
of snow or sleet. Yet to remain on deck was, as has 
already been said, utterly out of the question. Before 
they finally took to the rigging, however, they gave the 
water free passage into and out of the ship by knocking 
out the ports at stern and bow. Fortunate were they 
that they thought of the step, for if the water imprisoned 
within had burst up the deck, as it speedily would have 
done had there been no egress, the ship would have fallen 

278 




A Precarious Lodging 

The decks were all awash, so the crew hauled up a quantity of provisions under the 
mainmast, and secured themselves to the rigging. 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

to pieces directly, and every soul on board must have 
perished instantly. Indeed, the narrator states, the dis- 
placing of a single log would have been fatal. Here 
then was a broken ship kept afloat only by her cargo, 
which might at any moment shift in the rollings and 
tossings of the barque and consign her to destruction ; 
the vessel, moreover, was untended, and drifting helpless 
as one of the logs of her own cargo over the stormy 
ocean ; her crew was exposed to the winter storms of 
those bitter latitudes, and for how long, no man could 
say ! Not a soul on board could have really expected to 
survive such a desperate situation. 

A daily ration of food was agreed upon, a little biscuit 
and pork, and a small quantity of water. Of this latter 
the poor fellows could not get half enough, and they 
were always eager to catch a little whenever it rained. 
The liquid was dirty and tarry as the sails in which it 
was caught, but it was as sweetest nectar to the sailors. 
The cold was even harder to bear than the thirst, if that 
were possible; no clothing could keep out the winter 
blasts in mid- Atlantic. It was necessary to move about 
as much as possible among the masts and cordage, to 
prevent themselves from freezing stiff. Day by day, and 
night after night, the unfortunate sailors clung to the 
rigging, for the most part closely lashed to it, the ship 
meanwhile drifting they knew not whither. Not a sail 
appeared on the horizon. Two or three nights after the 
wreck the passenger had a heavy misfortune. He had 
fastened his topcoat with a piece of yarn to the mast to 
dry, for the garments were nearly always wet with the 
spray or with the leaping waves. When next he opened 
his eyes, the coat was gone, and he turned suddenly to 
see where it had dropped. Unluckily he let go his 

279 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

blanket, and in an instant the wind had whisked it after 
the overcoat into the sea. So strong was the breeze 
oftentimes that even the men themselves would have been 
blown into the tossing waves had they not been lashed 
securely. 

The poor fellow would certainly have lost his life 
through exposure had the vessel kept in those northern 
latitudes. But soon a fresh north-westerly breeze sprang 
up, and the water-logged wreck was carried every day 
farther south. Not that much alleviation of the men's 
lot was observable at once ; it was the thought of the 
better climate that was coming which at that time 
buoyed them up. For many days their plight was 
wretched in the extreme. This is how the passenger 
describes the nights spent aloft. "The sleep we enjoyed 
in our insecure berth in the rigging was neither sound 
nor refreshing, but we were thankful for it ; it passed the 
time, and no doubt was of some benefit to us. It was a 
kind of dog-sleep, and only lasted from fifteen minutes 
to half an hour at a time, and was generally disturbed 
with dreams about our friends and far-distant homes, 
which we had little or no expectation of ever seeing 
again. Sometimes we awoke in a dreadful fright, dream- 
ing we were pitched overboard, and some of the monsters 
of the deep ready to snatch us in their terrible maws. 
When we opened our eyes, it was, alas ! to perceive the 
signs of famine or a watery grave." 

The weather on the whole grew milder, though every 
now and then there were gales and even thunderstorms. 
The question of food and water began to give the un- 
fortunate sailors pressing concern. As yet not a single 
sail had been seen, and no man could venture, even in his 
most sanguine moments, to set a limit to the time their 

280 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

stay on the wreck might last. They cut themselves down 
to the smallest quantity of nourishment that would at all 
serve to keep body and soul together, two or three ounces 
of wet and mouldy bread, and half a pint of water per 
day. On Christmas Day, however — they had now been a 
whole month in the rigging ! — they gave themselves a 
little treat, an extra slice of pork ! Like many of the 
old sailing ships, and not a few of the newer steamers, for 
that matter, the England swarmed with rats. At first 
the sailors had flung the animals overboard whenever 
they had caught any ; now, each little rodent was kept, 
and was esteemed a marvellous luxury. Luckily a quad- 
rant had been saved, and the master reckoned that the 
ship was now in the latitude of the Azores, though 
whether to the west or to the east of the group, he did 
not know. 

A few nights after Christmas the shipwrecked crew 
were thrown into a state of excitement by the sight of a 
sail in the distance, and at once six of them went off in 
the jolly-boat to give chase, their companions sending 
them away with a rousing cheer. It was not much in 
the way of food and water the ship could spare these 
adventurous fellows, but they went in high hopes of 
success. The rest promised to keep torches flaring at 
night time, so that in the event of the boat missing the 
barque that was being chased, the men might at least 
find their way back to the England. The torches the 
crew made out of lengths of thickly tarred rope. After 
an interval of many hours, the brave six returned in the 
middle of the night to the ship, almost dead with exhaus- 
tion. They had got within a little distance of the 
stranger vessel, they reported, when she had suddenly 
spread her sails and made off, leaving the pursuers hope- 

281 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

lessly behind. This first attempt had proved such an 
entire failure that it was determined no more should 
be made till there was practically a certainty of 
success. 

New Year's Day, coming just after this ill-success, and 
after so long a period of exposure and privation, was a 
most miserable day for the shipwrecked sailors, and they 
were in a state of the utmost despondency. However, 
they had done their best to usher it in with due solemnity, 
having, at midnight, lighted the lantern in the rigging, 
and sung a psalm. After that the men shook hands with 
each other, and gave utterance to mutual good wishes for 
the coming year, wishes that must have seemed almost 
like a mockery under the circumstances. But the weather 
was much finer and warmer now, and, in spite of the 
water-logged ship beneath them, and of their forlorn 
position on the vast waste of waters, they managed, 
lashed to the rigging, to get a little refreshing 
sleep. 

Next day, January 2nd, brought another sensation. A 
vessel was seen in the distance, and though the men had 
declared on the former occasion that they would not 
leave the ship again without a reasonable certainty of 
success, they were all eager to try their luck once more. 
Without waiting to make signals, as they had done 
before, the boat's crew set off at once. "There was no 
cheering this time when we parted ; we were in too 
melancholy and uncertain a state for this expression of 
joy and triumph, so pleasing and natural to seamen. We 
spent the night keeping up torch-lights, expecting in the 
morning to see the vessel approaching us, or at least the 
boat in view ; but alas ! there was not a speck seen in 
the horizon ; both vessel and boat were out of sight. 

282 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

This was a painful result to our expectations, and our 
sole hope was, that the men had been rescued, though we 
could not well see how ; and we had the consolatory 
prospect of being able to stand it out a little longer, by 
keeping ourselves still on the same allowance." 

The next day passed without a sight of either ship or 
boat. Those left on the England took the opportunity 
of inspecting their provisions, and found that by reducing 
the daily allowance to the least that would sustain life at 
all, they had enough for ten or twelve days more. If by 
the end of that period they should not have been rescued, 
or at least relieved, there was before them nothing but 
death by starvation. It was an appalling prospect, and 
from this day more than one of the men began to turn 
his thoughts at times to that which sailors in the like 
extremity have occasionally done, the sacrificing of one 
of their number for the sustenance of the rest, a terrible 
step even to contemplate. But no one of them as yet 
ventured to whisper a word of this to his fellow- 
sufferers. 

It is now time to turn to the plucky sailors away in the 
jolly-boat. They rowed all night — it was Saturday night 
— after the vessel for which they were making. Sunday 
morning came, but only to reveal to them how desperate 
their situation was. Not only had they lost sight of the 
ship they had been chasing, but they could see no sign of 
their own. They had, in fact, lost sight of the England 
early in the night, in spite of the torches constantly 
burning there. Here were these six poor fellows lost on 
the boundless Atlantic, with hardly any food or drink, 
and in a small skiff, a dreadful situation. They could do 
nothing but drift at the will of the winds and waves, and 
their case was rendered still more desperate by the pall of 

283 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

fog that covered everything. By the end of the next day 
their stock of food was finished. But when things get to 
the worst, says the old adage, they must mend. And 
things had got into about as bad a state as they well 
could do with these poor fellows. 

The following day the fog cleared off, and to their 
unspeakable joy they descried a brig not far away. The 
ship at once bore down upon them, having observed their 
signals. An hour and a half passed, the brig reached 
them, and the shipwrecked mariners were hoisted on 
board of her. The vessel proved to be the Blucher^ 
bound for Buenos Ayres. She was nearly a thousand 
miles out of her proper course, the winds having of late 
been fierce and contrary. The skipper informed the 
rescued men that the spot was some three or four hundred 
miles from the nearest of the Azores, Fayal, which lay in 
a north-easterly direction. Thus the England's men 
knew that between Saturday and Monday their boat had 
been rowed or had drifted no less a distance than a 
hundred and forty miles. The Blucher was an American 
vessel, and the skipper and his crew did everything in 
their power for the miserable sailors. The captain did 
more : he expressed his readiness to sacrifice the time and 
go in search of the missing timber vessel. 

For three days did the search go on, and on Thursday, 
January 7th, they fell in with the England. The 
passenger shall tell of the meeting in his own words. 
" Towards evening, and while trying to gather water, it 
being rainy, the carpenter went to the fore-top, and im- 
mediately descried a brig to leeward ; he watched her 
attentively, and observed that she put about. He now 
cried to us, and told us she was standing towards us, for 
there was sufficient light for her to see us. No one can 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

picture the joy we now felt for this prospect of deliver- 
ance ; it can be but faintly imagined. At twelve o'clock, 
midnight, the vessel was alongside of us, and we were 
soon taken aboard. . . . Our happiness was increased by 
finding our fellow-sufferers with whom we had parted 
a few days ago, and who were ready to welcome us on 
deck." It was truly, as the passenger declares, an extra- 
ordinary deliverance. 

The American captain now proceeded to the Azores, 
far out of his way though it was, in order to put the 
shipwrecked ashore there. He stood first for Fayal, but 
the state of the wind did not admit of his landing. 
Accordingly he steered for the small neighbour island of 
Pico, and there sent off the poor fellows in their own 
boats, which had been brought along. " We bade our 
deliverers farewell, wishing them every blessing, and in 
about an hour we were landed at the foot of the Peak of 
Pico, a very lofty extinct volcanic mountain, covered 
nearly two-thirds of the way up with vines, orange, 
lemon, and fig trees, while the top, or crater, is crowned 
with eternal snow.'" On the kindness shown by the 
people of Pico, and on the passage to England which the 
shipwrecked crew were able subsequently to obtain, it is 
not needful to dwell at length. 

In some respects the loss of the England is one of the 
most remarkable in the history of shipwrecks. That a 
shattered vessel, full of water, should have lived through 
the winds and storms of the winter season, to drift in 
wayward fashion from Newfoundland to the Azores, a 
distance in a direct line of a thousand or twelve hundred 
miles ; that the crew should have existed for the long 
period of forty-five days lashed to the rigging, with little 
or no protection against the piercing wind and driving 

285 



A WATER-LOGGED TIMBER VESSEL 

rain and sleet, and with only the barest allowance daily of 
food and water that would keep life in them ; that after 
all this, they should be rescued, and should finally reach 
home without the loss of a single man — all this was truly 
extraordinary. 



286 



CHAPTER XXIV 

A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL 
SEA 

Mr. Caunter, an English clergyman — Takes ship at Calcutta for 
Madras — A forbidding-looking skipper— Fishing for sharks — A 
storm brewing — The Lascar sailors become useless — Gun breaks 
loose — Loosens a heavy drip-stone — The mate lassoes the gun — A 
fearful sea on board — Lady swept out of her cabin — The skipper 
to the rescue — A night alarm for the clergyman — Up to his 
shoulders and clinging for life — Ship full of water — Ports opened 
— Water escapes, and the ship rights herself — Skulking Lascars 
— A rope's-end argument — Storm abates— Off Madras — A heavy 
surf — A boat turns a somersault — All saved. 

ONE of the English travellers in and about India, 
in the first half of the nineteenth century, was a 
clergyman, the Reverend H. Caunter, who has 
left us many lively and amusing, and sometimes most 
thrilling, descriptions of his experiences and of scenes of 
which he was a witness in Eastern lands. On one occa- 
sion he took ship from Calcutta, along the Orissa and 
Coromandel coasts, to Madras. It was, indeed, only a 
coasting vessel in which he took passage, but a fine speci- 
men of its class, a teak-built craft of six hundred tons 
burden. He and a few travelling friends were the only 
passengers, with the exception of one lady. The recent 
monsoon had quite passed away, and there was no reason 
to expect anything but a favourable passage. 

Mr, Caunter himself occupied a small cabin under the 

287 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

poop, and near the cuddy. The crew consisted mainly of 
Lascars, of whom there were thirty ; in fact, with the 
exception of the captain and his first and second mates, 
there were no whites in the ship's company. The skipper 
was a very great favourite with his crew, and he was, in 
truth, a good seaman and a kindly fellow. But his 
appearance was certainly not such as to prepossess the 
passengers in his favour. He was " an old weather- 
beaten seaman who had lost an eye, over which he wore a 
black patch, that gave a fierceness to the expression of 
his countenance, naturally rough and grim, by no means 
conciliating. He was, besides, deeply seamed with the 
smallpox, which imparted to his broad, rigid features an 
asperity that repelled courtesy, and rendered him at first 
unpopular among his passengers." The man had a rough 
crust, but it was only a crust. 

The voyage down the Hooghly and through the Sun- 
derbunds provided nothing particularly exciting. But 
the entrance into the open sea brought the diversion of 
fishing for sharks. The passengers baited a hook and 
threw it over the side of the vessel. Almost immediately 
they had the satisfaction of seeing it swallowed by a 
particularly voracious shark. The brute pulled and 
tugged desperately, and in spite of all the skill with which 
he was played, he succeeded in breaking the rope. It 
parted suddenly with a snap, and away went the fish, 
carrying the hook with him. Fresh tackle was procured, 
much stronger than the first, and another try was made. 
To the surprise of the sportsmen, the same fish before 
long seized the bai t, swallowing it and the hook entirely ; 
it was evident that the shark had kept quite close to the 
ship in the interval. Again the fish made a stout fight of 
it 9 and it was some time before he could be hauled in and 

288 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

got on deck. At last he was secured, and a fine fellow he 
proved to be, measuring not far short of twenty feet in 
length. The first hook was found in his throat ; the 
second, with the rope still attached, was securely fastened 
deep down in the stomach. The shark gave those on 
board a lively time of it for a while. " Its strength was 
prodigious, and so furiously did it lash the deck with its 
tail, as to render it dangerous to approach within its 
sweep. With a single stroke it overturned one of the 
guns ; the carpenter then severed the dangerous member 
with the blow of an axe ; after which the savage creature 
was quickly despatched." Like others of its breed, this 
shark was evidently a most voracious brute, for from its 
stomach was taken a piece of solid timber as thick as a 
man's arm and thirteen inches long. 

Hardly had the barque got fairly into the Bay of 
Bengal when the skipper began to scent a coming storm. 
The air seemed to have become actually stagnant ; not a 
capful of wind was to be had ; the sultry heat grew almost 
unendurable, and everybody spent a wretched night. 
Morning brought a change ; a fine spanking breeze was 
blowing. But the captain did not like the look of it, 
and had all sails reefed, as he declared a storm to be 
rapidly approaching. The sun was half hidden by haze, 
and cast a curious glare as of brass over the sea. So far 
as the passengers were concerned, they saw nothing 
alarming in all this, but the bluff skipper was of a very 
different opinion, and made all haste with his prepara- 
tions to meet the gale. A curious thing was now seen, 
but one often found in cases of this sort. The Lascars 
grew suddenly lazy, or rather, indifferent, and went 
about their work as if half asleep, but with faces show- 
ing the utmost uneasiness and consternation. Apparently 
t 289 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

the men, now that they were certain they were in for a 
bad time, did not care what happened ; the fatalism of 
the East held them in its grasp. It was clear that the 
three white men of the crew would have to depend upon 
themselves in the coming emergencies, whatever they 
might be. 

For an hour or two the passengers sat on deck and 
tried, with faces as unconcerned as they could make them, 
to kill time. But the startling and most unusual appear- 
ance the sky assumed, and the predictions of the captain, 
gradually produced their results ; everybody grew grave 
and showed signs of inward fear. Stronger blew the 
gale, and the vessel began to roll ominously, giving 
sudden lurches that terrified the passengers already, 
especially the lady. The clouds by this time covered 
the sky, rolling " in dark misshapen masses, appearing at 
intervals as if they had been torn asunder by the wind 
and scattered in gigantic fragments through the troublec 
air.'" The afternoon wore on, till, by four o'clock, the 
ship was staggering under a furious hurricane, her sails 
all close-reefed, her ports fastened down, and her guns all 
brought upon the quarter-deck and well lashed. The 
skipper had done everything in his power for the safety 
of the vessel and those in her. 

The passengers went into the cuddy for tea, but were 
full of apprehension. In the middle of the meal, the 
vessel "appeared of a sudden to leap over a gigantic 
billow, and the moment she had recovered her equilibrium, 
she rolled so heavily that her bulwarks were nearly under 
water. The tables were forced from their stays, over- 
turned, and all the tea-things shattered to pieces; we 
were thrown from our chairs, and for a minute or two the 
utmost confusion prevailed. 1 ' 

290 




A Risky Attempt 

During the hurricane a heavy gun broke loose, and crashed from side to side, until the 
plucky mate managed to snare it with a rope, and secured it to the capstan. 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

While this lively scene was witnessed in the cuddy, 
there were still livelier doings on the quarter-deck. The 
violent lurchings of the vessel caused one of the guns to 
break loose from its lashings, and the heavy piece with its 
carriage began to roll from side to side of the ship with 
every motion. It was a dangerous customer to have 
careering about the deck at will, and the men expected 
every instant to see the bulwarks carried away, or some 
other serious damage done. There was positive danger 
even to the ship itself. The Lascar seamen were in 
deadly terror, and dared not come near the spot, much 
less make any attempt to secure the dangerous piece 
of ordnance. "In one of its furious migrations, it 
struck a dripstone, which had been secured in a 
corner near the cabins, released it from the strong 
wooden case in which it was confined, and sent it 
bounding upon the deck, placing in great peril those 
who were engaged in the necessary duties of the ship. 
The noise occasioned by these huge masses dashing 
from side to side, added to the howling of the wind 
and the fierce lashing of the waters, was painful in the 
extreme. ,, 

The second officer lost no time in preparing a noose, 
with which he approached the spot, whence every Lascar 
had fled in mortal terror. After a few attempts, all made 
under the greatest risk, the plucky mate managed to 
snare the gun, and quick as thought he took a turn round 
the capstan with the other end of the rope. The cannon 
being now secure, he gave his attention to the dripstone, 
and soon made that safe too. As for the Lascars, they 
had grown more apathetic than ever, having evidently 
made up their minds that their time had come, and that 
it was useless to struggle against fate. Had there been 

291 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

no better men on board, the vessel would soon have gone 
hopelessly to destruction. 

Night came on, the hurricane more furious than ever. 
All the passengers went to bed except the clergyman, 
Mr. Caunter, and he stayed on deck with the captain. 
The skipper was clearly very ill at ease, and was gradu- 
ally becoming more apprehensive, if not actually nervous. 
The passenger could not help noticing the man's twitch- 
ing features, his flushed face, his unquiet gaze, his im- 
pulsive eagerness. Ever and anon, as the captain stood 
by the man at the wheel, he would suddenly clutch at the 
spokes in his perturbation. Mr. Caunter did not like the 
look of it at all, and began to have his doubts whether 
the man was capable of managing the ship in such a 
tempest. However, he sat down on a gun, to which he 
had to cling with both hands, and smoked a cigar, the 
howling of the storm preventing conversation with the 
skipper, except in occasional snatches. All the while the 
vessel was labouring fearfully. 

Suddenly there came a tremendous sea, striking the 
vessel astern, but on the quarter. "In an instant it 
carried away the quarter-gallery on that side, swamping 
the cabin into which the poor lady passenger had retired 
for the night. The force of the water was so great that 
it dashed open the door of the cabin." The lady was 
swept out by the furious onslaught of the water, and 
carried headlong into the cuddy not far away. The 
captain was on the spot in a moment, and seized the 
poor creature before any further harm could come to her. 
She was, of course, dripping ; she was almost in con- 
vulsions with the fright, " her eye upturned with a deep 
settled glare of half-consciousness, that seemed as if her 
mind were in a state between terror and agony, to neither | 

292 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

of which she could give expression, as the water had 
nearly suffocated her. The blood had receded from her 
cheeks, which were overspread with a dull bluish white. 
In a few moments she recovered her breath, when she 
shrieked and fainted." The skipper at once gave up his 
own cabin to the unfortunate lady, and she gradually 
recovered. The carpenter had meanwhile been nailing 
planks across the breach made by the sweeping away of 
the quarter-gallery, covering the boards with a piece of 
strong tarpaulin. 

The clergyman now went to bed, though it was long 
before he could get a wink of sleep, what with the howl- 
ing of the wind, the roar of the waves, the labouring of 
the vessel, and the dread sense of peril. He was in the 
middle of a horrible dream when he was suddenly roused 
by his cot, which, instead of swinging as it did in a 
normal state of things, had become fixed. The passenger 
found afterwards that it had really stuck fast against the 
roof of his cabin. But he knew nothing of that at the 
time, and instantly believed that the ship was sinking 
beneath the waves. In an agony of fright he sprang out 
on the floor. There was a fearful noise on deck, and Mr. 
Caunter, almost frantic now, made a dash for the cuddy, 
just as he was, in his night-gear. He had scarcely opened 
the cuddy door when a gigantic billow poured over the 
bow of the ship, hissing and sparkling in the impeded 
moonlight, " and I stood upon the quarter-deck up to 
my shoulders in water. I clung for an instant to the 
ladder of the poop, which, as soon as I could recover 
myself, I ascended. Here I witnessed a scene which 

shall never forget to the latest moment of my 
existence.'" 

He had come on deck at a critical time. Round the 
293 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

ship the sea raged in mad fury, while the flashes of light- 
ning came so quickly one after another that they may be 
said to have been continuous. And so vivid were they 
that they illuminated the whole visible stretch of the 
ocean with a light as that of high noontide. Mr. Caunter 
was obliged to cling for his life to the rail, while the 
terrific roar of the hurricane deafened and confounded 
him till he was almost too dazed to observe what was 
passing. As for the ship herself, she appeared to be 
absolutely " buried in the billows.'' 1 She had shipped no 
less than five tremendous seas, yet none of the water could 
escape, the captain, as has been already stated, having 
long ago had every port fastened down. The clergy- 
man was enough of a sailor to be aware that such 
a state of things could not last, and he was not sur- 
prised when the skipper shouted at the top of his 
voice that they were going down. The vessel was on her 
beam-ends. 

Shuddering, Mr. Caunter listened to the man's frantic 
shouts. The captain raved and stormed about the deck 
like one demented, and the vessel lay a mere log, her 
helm of not the slightest use. True, she was floating, 
but almost under water, and swept every minute by fear- 
ful seas, each of which in its turn seemed about to swamp 
her entirely. The billows rose like mountains upon her, 
breaking in mighty volumes over her, and for the moment 
burying her beneath tons upon tons of hissing yeasty 
brine. The clergyman sat with his back to and leaning 
against the mizen-mast, quite stunned by the awful scene 
and the fearful danger ever present. In truth, he no 
longer had any clear perception of things, and had lost 
all fear of death, though death appeared to be both 
inevitable and close upon them all. He declares that had 

294 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

the vessel sunk then, he would have gone to the bottom 
quite oblivious of what was happening. 

All this passed in the course of a few score seconds, 
during which the ship, full of water, and almost alto- 
gether beneath the surface, hung, as it were, between 
safety and destruction. 

"Cut the lashings of all the ports to leeward — in- 
stantly ! " yelled the skipper, and the few men capable of 
action rushed to obey the order. 

A short period of suspense ensued, during which the 
clergyman holding on by the mizen-mast was becoming 
ever more stupefied. Then, heard distinctly above all the 
roar of the hurricane, came the words, " Ports all clear, 
sir!" 

The effect was seen in a moment. Immediately the 
lashings were cut the ports were forced open by the 
tremendous pressure within and behind them. Then the 
water gushed out with fury, and in half a minute the 
deck was left free. At once the vessel righted herself, as 
if by magic, and for the present the worst of the danger 
was over. The marvellous change that now came over 
the skipper's face did not escape the eyes of the passenger, 
himself now once more alive and observant. 

The ship was put before the wind, and in spite of run- 
ning under bare poles, dashed along at the rate of ten 
knots an hour, so full of fury was the gale behind her. 
The lightning gradually ceased, but the wind did not 
show the slightest sign of dropping. The clouds above 
still looked dark and forbidding, but every now and then 
the light burst through between the dense masses and 
flooded the heaving, roaring ocean with light. 

The mate now began to look up the Lascar sailors, 
who had for some time been invisible. Presently these 

295 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

scared fellows were all found prone and huddled together 
in the bottom of the ship's boat, which hung between the 
fore and the main masts. No argument in the shape of 
spoken words could induce the men to budge an inch ; 
they were still of opinion that the ship and all in her 
were going to the bottom. Then the chief officer had 
recourse to the sort of persuasion that alone seemed to 
prevail with the Lascars. Seizing a rope's end, the mate 
laid about him in lusty style, and as he was a big, mus- 
cular fellow, the blows were none of the lightest. Yet it 
was not till he had made long and vigorous application 
that he got the sailors out of their skulking-place and off 
to their posts. As there were close on thirty men to be 
dealt with, the scene must have been lively, if a trifle 
monotonous towards the end. 

All this time the parson remained on deck, still dressed 
in nothing but his night-clothes, and those, of course, 
drenched through and through ; though exposed to the 
full fury of the storm, he could not tear himself away 
from the deck. He was not in the least cold or uncom- 
fortable ; on the contrary, he says, " the excitement from 
utter helplessness to the apparent certainty of escape 
from threatened destruction, produced a glow all over my 
body, and I continued upon deck, amid the rush of waters 
and the roar of elements, without the least desire to 
return to my cabin. ,, So he seated himself by the officer 
of the watch, who regaled him with the most terrible 
tales of disasters at sea, till at last the passenger grew 
weary, and went off and enjoyed a few hours of refreshing 
sleep. When he arose in the morning, the storm had 
almost blown itself out, and in due course Madras was 
reached. 

There was now the landing to come, always a difficult 

296 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

piece of business on that surf-bound shore, as is well 
known. At once there were any number of small boats 
alongside, to take off the passengers from this and 
another ship which had just dropped anchor hard by. 
Though the day was fine, and the breeze had now become 
moderate, the surf ran very high. There was, besides, a 
boisterous and difficult cross swell, which made the passage 
to shore more than ordinarily risky that day. However, 
with a good deal of trouble the people were got into the 
boats, and the voyage to shore began, a crowd of 
catamarans following close, to pick up any person or any 
bit of baggage that might be tossed into the frothing 
Sea. The ground-swell, always strong on that coast, was 
particularly heavy. Mr. Caunter's boat was fortunate 
enough to survive all risks, and all the tossings and 
buffetings of the surf, and he was safely landed. He 
stood on the beach to watch the fortunes of the other 
boats, and was presently witness of an accident that 
might easily have ended fatally. In this case there 
might have been some mismanagement ; anyhow, " the 
man at the helm had allowed her to advance too far 
upon the crest of the breaker, which curled suddenly 
under her, raised her stern in the air, when another surge 
instantly succeeding turned her a complete somersault, 
stern over head, and sent every person within her sprawl- 
ing in the surf. They were whirled about in the most 
violent manner, performing many disagreeable evolu- 
tions, their mouths filled with water and sand, until 
rescued from their jeopardy by the men who followed in 
the catamarans, and plucked them from the rapacious 
jaws of the sharks within a very few seconds after the 
disaster. They presented a sorry picture as they stood 
upon the beach, dripping, and wiping their faces, when 

297 



A HURRICANE IN A TROPICAL SEA 

they were beyond the reach of danger. The whole of 
their baggage was recovered from the impetuous waters. 
After having liberally rewarded the active fellows who 
had saved them from a watery death, they proceeded, 
like ourselves, in palenkeens towards the town." 



298 



CHAPTER XXV 

BRITISH WARSHIPS IN RUSSIAN 
SEAS 

The combined British and French navies in the Crimean War — A 
terrific storm — The chief theatres of the naval operations — A little 
British gunboat chases three Russian ships — A queer floating 
battery — British and French sailors fraternise — Guns hurled into 
the sea— A blaze of forts — A plucky inventor— Russian ships 
after the fall of Sebastopol — Preparations to destroy — Britishers 
at work in the dark — A big Russian anchors close to the spot — 
" We are going to catch it ! " — All the Russian ships fired by 
themselves — Except one, and that is scuttled — A demonstration 
before Odessa — Reconnoitring the Bug estuary— Dutch courage — 
A puff of white smoke — A lively time. 

IT is probable that up to that time by far the most 
formidable array of battleships ever seen was that of 
the combined French and English fleets in the Black 
Sea, during the Crimean War of 1854-5. Says Dr. 
Russell, the famous war correspondent, speaking of the 
squadrons before Odessa, " the fleet must have presented 
a spectacle full of grandeur and menace to the Odessans. 
It extended for a space of five miles in front of their 
town — a dense array of hulls and masts, yards and 
rigging, which, from the shore, looked as if it were one 
unbroken network of ships resting on the water. The 
nine line-of-battle ships towered aloft in the centre, and 
the heavy steamers, gunboats, bomb-vessels, and trans- 
ports, to the number of sixty, filled up the intervals, 

299 



BRITISH WARSHIPS 

and extended along the flanks of the flotilla." And he 
asks what some of the mighty admirals of yore would 
have thought of such an armament. 

Of course the warships had their share of storms and 
hurricanes out there ; indeed, the story of the naval 
operations in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov is full 
of accounts of tempests, some of them of the most 
terrible kind. Quite early in the war the correspondent 
came in for a trying experience of this description. He 
happened to be spending the evening with the captain of 
the Jason, lying outside the harbour of Balaklava, in the 
Crimean peninsula. The ship was a splendid steamer 
and splendidly equipped and managed, yet when the 
storm came on, which it did so suddenly that Dr. Russell 
could not get back to shore, he wished himself almost 
anywhere else in the world than on board the Jason. 
The gale set full into the bay, and presently the seas 
were so tremendous that they " rushed up the precipices 
in masses of water and foam, astonishing by their force 
and fury." The captains, not only of the Jason, but of 
the Agamemnon and other battleships there, had at once 
to leave their anchorage, the strain on the cables being 
too great, and steam gently against the wind. Farther 
away were a number of small vessels, and amongst these 
there was appalling work. In a short time they "were 
dashed into fragments against those cruel rocks, the 
aspect of which was calculated to thrill the heart of 
the boldest seaman with horror. There were few which 
did not drag their anchors and draw towards the iron 
coast which lowered with death on its brow upon us. 
Guns of distress boomed through the storm, and flashes 
of musketry pointed out for a moment a helpless trans- 
port which seemed tossing in the very centre of the 

300 



IN RUSSIAN SEAS 

creaming foam of those stupendous breakers, the like of 
which I never beheld, except once, when I saw the 
Atlantic running riot against the cliffs of Moher. r> 
Luckily the Jason rode out the storm till the gale 
abated, or rather, till it left the sea, and, with redoubled 
fury, bore down on the land as a hurricane, causing 
enormous damage to the military camps there. 

The chief theatres of the naval operations of this war 
were three, and each furnished numberless striking inci- 
dents and thrilling spectacles. There was, first, the 
Crimea itself, the principal places being off Balaklava 
and the marvellous fortress of Sebastopol. Then came a 
great expedition against Kertch and Yenikale and the 
shipping of the Sea of Azov. Later on the fleets were 
sent against Odessa, Kinburn, and other ports about the 
Dnieper and Bug estuary. 

Kertch and Yenikale protect the entrance to the Sea of 
Azov, from whose ports Russia drew immense supplies 
of corn and other provisions. To stop the bringing of 
these supplies was the main object of the allied French 
and British fleets on this occasion. As soon as the ships 
appeared in the neighbourhood of the Straits of Yenikale, 
the Russians on shore began to blow up their magazines 
one after another in quick succession, a strange sight to 
those on board the vessels. Some of the explosions were 
truly awful, "seeming to shake sea and air." Then the 
Russians could be perceived making their escape across 
the hills behind Kertch. Now began an exciting time. 
A Russian steamer was observed stealing out of the Bay 
of Kertch and making for the Straits of Yenikale. Then 
a couple of merchantmen also ran out and hastened after 
the steamer. At once a British gunboat dashed after the 
retreating enemy. At that moment a huge Russian war- 

301 



BRITISH WARSHIPS 

ship was seen steaming at a great rate from the direction 
of the straits, her intention being plainly to support the 
three craft that were trying to escape. The contrast 
between the big Russian and the little British gunboat 
was ludicrous, and no doubt the former mightily despised 
her tiny opponent. Nothing daunted, the British captain 
held on, passing one of the merchantmen, giving her a 
shot to cause her to heave-to. Then on the little bark 
flew, now within range of the Kertch guns, and within a 
short distance also of the escaping vessels. 

" The forts at Kertch instantly opened, shot after shot 
splashed up the water near the gunboat, which intrepidly 
kept on her way. As the man-of-war schooner ran down 
towards the Russian steamer, the latter gained courage, 
slackened her speed, and lay-to, as if to engage her 
enemy. A sheet of flame and smoke rushed from the 
gunboat's sides, and her shot flying over the Russian, 
tossed up a pillar of water far beyond her. Alarmed at 
this taste of her opponent's quality and intimation of 
her armament, the Russian took flight, and the schooner 
wore away for Yenikale again, with the gunboat after 
both of them. Off the narrow straits between Yenikale 
and the sandbank, as the English gunboat, which had 
been joined by another, ran towards them, a Russian 
battery opened upon her from the town. The gunboats 
still dashed at their enemies, which tacked, wore, and ran 
in all directions, as a couple of hawks would harry a flock 
of hares." 

The British admiral now sent some light steamers to 
help the gallant gunboats, and the French also dispatched 
their contingent of vessels. It was necessary that they 
should be all of light draught, for the straits abound in 
shallows. In fact, the navigation through the Yenikale 

302 



IN RUSSIAN SEAS 

passage into the Azov Sea is very intricate and dangerous. 
The combined squadron thus sent commenced operations 
against the shore batteries, of which there were a great 
number. There, in the muddy current which flows out 
from the inner sea through the straits at the rate of three 
miles an hour, the Allies poured forth their storm of shot 
and shell. For a time it was an exciting scene, but it did 
not last long. First one, then another of the Russian 
batteries was silenced, its defenders beating a hasty 
retreat afterwards. But in every case they blew up their 
magazine before they fled, an almost invariable practice 
with the Russians, and one which, as will be seen later on, 
was carried out on a colossal scale after the fall of 
Sebastopol. The great fort at Yenikale itself was one of 
those fired and deserted, and the bombarding gunboats 
were then able to approach the shallow shore. There, 
moored off the fort, were found two of the enemy's gun- 
boats, with a floating battery close by. This latter was 
a curious construction, its floor almost even with the 
water. This battery mounted two guns, both quite un- 
covered. One Russian was found dead by the side of his 
gun. He still held the match in his hand, having evi- 
dently been about to fire when he was struck down by a 
shot from the attacking gunboats. 

The scene that evening, after the Kertch forts also had 
been silenced, must have been striking. It was about 
half-past six when the Russians gave up the struggle and 
abandoned the town. " Dark pillars of smoke, tinged at 
the base with flame, began to shoot up all over the hill- 
sides. Some of them rose from the government houses 
and stores of Ambalaki, where we landed ; others from 
the stores which the Russians destroyed in their flight. 
Constant explosions shook the air, and single guns sounded 

303 



BRITISH WARSHIPS 

here and there continuously throughout the night. Here 
a ship lay blazing on a sandbank ; there a farm-house in 
flames lighted up the sky, and obscured the pale moon 
with volumes of inky smoke." Kertch was a very im- 
portant naval station, and its dockyard was found to be 
crammed with military and naval stores of all descrip- 
tions. But the Allies intended that the place should no 
longer be used as an arsenal, and orders were given to 
destroy it and its magazines. The British Jack-tar 
fraternised with his French comrade, and the work of 
destruction was carried rapidly on, the sailors enjoying 
the job like overgrown schoolboys. Some of them enjoyed 
still more, perhaps, the opportunities of looting. So 
" the French hurled guns into the sea, tore up platforms, 
and exploded the shells found in the magazines. Parties 
of boats were sent out in all directions to secure and burn 
prizes, to fire the storehouses and huts on the sandbanks ; 
by day the sky was streaked with lines of smoke, and by 
night the air was illuminated by the blaze of forts, 
houses, magazines, and vessels aground on the flats for 
miles around us." 

While all this was going on in and about the Straits, a 
squadron was hard at work in the Sea of Azov, under 
Captain Lyons. No fewer than two hundred and forty- 
five vessels were destroyed, some of them splendid ships 
of large size. Towns were shelled, and stores to an 
incredible amount recklessly destroyed. Of flour alone 
millions of pounds in weight were needlessly sacrificed. 
A curious innovation, most gallantly worked by its in- 
ventor, Lieutenant Coles, of the Royal Navy, was 
brought into operation against the town of Taganrog, 
where the water was much too shallow to permit of the 
approach of vessels of any size. This ingenious and 

304 



IN RUSSIAN SEAS 

heroic officer took a raft, placed a gun on it, and defended 
it with gabions, thus forming a floating battery. He 
named it the Lady Nancy, and with this he went against 
the town. He was able to work his invention with 
enormous effect against the place, and from this germ, as 
it were, sprang the " idea of the Monitor" which " has 
revolutionised the navies of the world." 

After the memorable fall of Sebastopol, the Allies 
determined to blow up the Russian steamers that still 
remained intact, in spite of all that had been done 
against them. Some of these were famous craft, par- 
ticularly the magnificent Vladimir, and all had done, from 
time to time, great damage to both the shipping and the 
shore stations of the allied armies. Another of the 
terrific storms so frequent in those seas came on, and for 
a time stopped the operations. At length the attack 
began. Some of the guns captured from the Russians 
were turned against their ships. Amongst other things, 
a battery was ordered to be constructed close to the 
water's edge, so as to get a nearer range. There lay the 
enemy's vessels in the roads, not far away, while in 
the darkness of the night the British worked at parapet 
and gabions, not a word being uttered or an unnecessary 
sound made. Covering the working party was a force of 
one hundred and twenty men, and there were, besides, 
French sentries posted and keeping a sharp look-out. 
Presently one of the enemy's warships was observed to 
glide away from her anchorage, and, though the night 
was dark, she could be perceived slily dropping down 
upon the very place where the work was going on. 
Closer and closer came the man-of-war, and the workers 
naturally expected every minute to be swept down by a 
storm of grape and canister. It was a post of extreme 
V 3°5 



BRITISH WARSHIPS 

danger which these fellows occupied. With one accord 
they threw themselves flat on the ground and waited. 
The steamer is within a hundred yards of them ; her 
anchor goes with a splash into the water ; the cable can 
be heard rattling through the hawsehole. Now they are 
" going to catch it " ! 

To the intense surprise of the Britishers, sailors and 
soldiers, the Russian made no further movement, but 
apparently settled herself comfortably in her new berth. 
The men on shore, still lying flat, watched and waited. 
An hour thus passed by. Then all at once a glare was 
perceived on the vessel, and, a second later, another ship 
showed a similar flare. " Then one ! two ! three ! four ! 
five ! as though from signal guns, the remaining steamers, 
with one exception, emitted jets of fire. The jets soon 
became columns of flame and smoke — the wind blew 
fresh and strong, so the fire soon spread with rapidity, 
and lighted up the whole of the heavens. The masts 
were speedily licked and warmed into a fiery glow, and 
the rigging burst out into fitful wavering lines of light, 
struggling with the wind for life ; the yards shed lambent 
showers of sparks and burning splinters upon the waters. 
The northern works could be readily traced by the light 
of the conflagration, and the faces of the Russian soldiers 
and sailors who were scattered about on the face of the 
cliff shone out now and again. The vessels were soon 
nothing but huge arks of blinding light, which hissed 
and crackled fiercely, and threw up clouds of sparks and 
embers ; the guns, as they became hot, exploded, and 
shook the crazy hull to atoms. One after another they 
went down into the seething waters."" What a scene! 
And what a position at first for the Britishers lying 
prone on their partly constructed earthworks ! 

306 



IN RUSSIAN SEAS 

Day at length broke, revealing a solitary Russian battle- 
ship, which alone could speedily have annihilated the 
workers. But her time was likewise come. A boat 
pushed off from her carrying the last handful of the crew. 
" Very speedily the vessel began to be seized with a sort 
of internal convulsion — first she dipped her bows, then 
her stern, then gave a few uneasy shakes, and at length, 
after a short quiver, went down bodily, cleverly scuttled." 
Thus did the Russians destroy their whole fleet before 
Sebastopol, to prevent the foe from rejoicing over their 
own destructive work upon it. 

A grand combined expedition of British and French 
naval forces steamed for the famous and most important 
city of Odessa, but, as it did not appear at all likely that 
the place could be taken, the fleet, after making an 
imposing demonstration before the town, moved away to 
the attack on Kinburn, a port at the mouth of the estuary 
formed by the confluence of the rivers Dnieper and Bug. 
While the mortar-vessels and the floating batteries were 
getting up steam, some of the Frenchmen landed near 
a ruined village not far from the town. Taking advantage 
of a broken wall, the French brought into action a couple 
of field-pieces, the enemy answering briskly from the 
Kinburn forts. Now the floating batteries moved away 
from the rest of the vessels, and calmly advanced till they 
were right under the Russian forts. A brisk and stirring 
engagement then commenced. The floating batteries 
opened with " a magnificent crash," one of the craft 
particularly conspicuous by the vigour and determination 
of its action. Then the bomb-ketches began, and, as the 
enemy replied briskly, there was a stirring spectacle. 
After a while it was seen that the attacking guns had 
set fire to the fort, and the blaze, fanned by the breeze, 

3°7 



BRITISH WARSHIPS 

rapidly spread. Nevertheless, the defenders stuck man- 
fully to their guns, till they were fairly driven away by 
the fire. Then one explosion after another rent the air, 
and the Russian flag was shot down. While the con- 
flagration raged and ran over the place, the attack from 
without became still more deadly, the British ships 
Hannibal and Valorous ', with the French A smodee, de- 
livering telling broadsides. Here was a fort ablaze almost 
from end to end, and subject to the combined destructive 
powers of gunboats, mortar-ships, floating batteries, 
bomb-ketches, not to mention the great line-of-battle 
ships. Kinburn could not stand against so fearful an 
onset, and in due course every gun was silenced save 
one. This was in charge of a young Polish officer, who 
with splendid but foolish courage — backed up, the war 
correspondent humorously remarks, by its Dutch ally — 
continued to fight, declaring that he and his men 
could hold out for a week. "What then?"" asked the 
Governor, as well he might. Soon a couple of boats 
were seen putting off from the shore with a flag 
of truce. The place at once fell into the hands of the 
Allies. 

Another company of British gunboats, under the com- 
mand of Admiral Stewart, entered the estuary of the 
Bug, really a not inconsiderable arm of the sea, to 
reconnoitre. The cliffs were lofty, and at one place 
the officers were just saying to each other, " Well ! 
I wonder the Russians have not got a battery on 
that cliff! " when suddenly there was a puff of white 
smoke seen there, and a shot struck the water close t( 
the Grinder. 

"Tell Grinder he may send a shot in reply," said th( 
Admiral, and the little vessel at once replied witl 

308 



IN RUSSIAN SEAS 

a will, managing, however, to get into everybody's 
way, especially into the way of the Admiral's ship 
Stromboli. 

Meanwhile the enemy peppered away from the top of 
the cliff, and, to the huge delight of the British tars, the 
order to clear for action was given. The Stromboli got 
herself into position, and prepared to shell a little trench 
half-way up the cliff. The question was, What w r as the 
range ? 

"Try 2500 yards," the order was given. The shot 
sped on its way, but struck the precipice above the 
desired spot. The fact was, the Russians had all along 
been firing too short, in order to deceive the attacking 
force, as the Britishers now observed. The enemy opened 
fire in good earnest at last. " The shot flew over Captain 
Spratt's head, who was on the foretop, and plunged into 
the water two or three hundred yards beyond us." The 
Stromboli kept edging nearer, and sent another shot, at 
2000 yards range ; again it was a bit too high, and only 
caused the Russians to bob their heads. " The Spitfire, 
Cracker, and Grinder were now coming into action. The 
enemy's field-pieces took to shell, and studded the air 
above us with smoke-clouds ; the angry hum of their 
splinters was heard on all sides. Whiz ! right across our 
deck comes a shot, and plashes into the water over our 
counter. Our long gun at the bow sends a shot in reply, 
at 1700 yards, which goes into their battery this time. 
Whiz ! whiz ! two shots this time, one after the other, one 
dashing up the water close to her sides, the other cutting 
the jib foot-rope of the Stromboli." 

As it was not intended to waste time and shot in clear- 
ing the numberless forts that lined the shore, each one of 
which would have been repaired and manned again the 

3°9 



BRITISH WARSHIPS 

moment the British ships had departed, the Admiral 
prepared to leave the spot, gratifying Jack, however, by 
just one more and farewell shot. So the Spitfire, the 
Cracker, and the Grinder threw a shell each into the 
enemy's works, and then the fleet steamed away. 



310 



CHAPTER XXVI 

AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE SEVENTY 
YEARS AGO 

The United States Exploring Expedition of 1836 — Captains Wilkes 
and Hudson — Vessels leave Sydney for Antarctic Ocean — The ice 
barrier reached — Coasting along it westward — " Ice ahead ! " — A 
fright for Wilkes — Battle between a huge '* killer " and a whale — 
The Peacock, Captain Hudson, battered by ice-floes — The ice- 
anchors at work — Rudder broken — An avalanche of ice and snow 
— A small boat between two closing icebergs — In a deep ice-bay — 
Out again — Vessel badly shattered — The Vincennes in a region of 
icebergs — Men unable to go on with their work — The danger from 
the grinding bergs — A perilous passage between two ice-islands — 
A terrible night — Land seen beyond the ice barrier. 

IN the year 1836 the Government of the United States 
sent out an exploring expedition, under the command 
of Captain Wilkes of the U.S. Navy, an expedition 
that met with many adventures and did good work. 
There were six ships of various kinds in all, of which the 
chief were the Vincennes, commanded by the leader of the 
expedition himself, and the Peacock, under Captain 
Hudson. They were absent five years, or nearly so, 
during which time they visited many lands of the southern 
hemisphere. One part of the plan laid down for the 
expedition was the exploration of the Antarctic Ocean, 
more especially the continent, which even at that early 
period was believed to exist there, and which was just 
then attracting a good deal of attention. The names of 

311 



AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE 

various officers still survive in the Cape Hudson, Port 
Case, Port Emmons, Ringgold Knoll, and so forth of the 
Antarctic fringe of land. 

The vessels left the harbour of Sydney, New South 
Wales, the day after Christmas Day, in the year 1839. 
Captain Wilkes had made many and great prepara- 
tions for the comfort of his men. The ports were 
tightened to keep out the wet and cold as far as possible. 
Round all the hatchways rough casings of wood had been 
built, provided with weights and pulleys, so that the 
doors should not be left open through carelessness. 
Arrangements for heating the cabins up to 50° F., and no 
more, were made, the officers believing that that tempera- 
ture was in every way better than a higher one in those 
intensely cold latitudes. Every morning and evening an 
inspection of the men's dress and boots was made, to 
ensure that none should go inadequately clad or shod. 

The first iceberg was seen on January 10th. It was a 
mile in length, and towered out of the sea to a height of 
a hundred and eighty feet. The temperature of the water 
at once fell to 32°. After that icebergs in plenty were 
observed, and as the weather grew foggy, with occasional 
thick snowstorms, it was necessary to proceed with great 
caution. Presently the ice was seen to be stretching 
along, in one continuous line apparently, reaching beyond 
the limits of vision in either direction. The exploring 
party had come to the great ice barrier that lined the 
Antarctic coast. As they approached the barrier, how- 
ever, they found it to be anything but a continuous line. 
Here a huge ice cape stood out ; there a deep inlet ran in. 
An opening was perceived, and the ships stood into it, 
the captains hoping that it would lead to an open sea 
beyond. To their chagrin, they found themselves in an 

312 



SEVENTY YEARS AGO 

ice bay, and, the fog thickening, they had a hard task of 
it to get out again. Captain Wilkes now determined to 
coast along in a westerly direction till he met with the 
opening he wanted. 

The crew of the Vincennes almost at once had a fright. 
It was most dangerous work, of course, to coast thus, in a 
thick mist, along an ice-bound coast with so many pro- 
jecting capes threatening and so many deep indentations 
and passages. The vessel was tossing a good deal, when 
suddenly the water became as calm as a mill-pond, the 
wash and roar of the waves instantly hushed. It was 
a sign that the ship had run into some inlet or had passed 
within the icy barrier. Everybody rushed on deck in 
alarm, and all eyes were strained to make out through the 
fog the first glimpse of an ice reef. As Captain Wilkes 
says, " The feeling is awful and the uncertainty most 
trying, thus to enter within the icy barrier blindfolded as 
it were by an impenetrable fog, and the thought con- 
stantly recurring that both ship and crew are in imminent 
danger." 

" Ice ahead! " came the cry. It was an alarming sound, 
but it proved that at any rate the fog was a little less 
dense. After a quarter of an hour, to the delight of the 
men, the mist cleared enough to show that the Vincennes 
was in the middle of a small landlocked bay, with 
insufficient sea room for the vessel. It took several hours 
before the ship could be got out of her awkward predica- 
ment. It was well the bay was so small ; before long, 
another of the ships was to have experience of a much 
larger and more dangerous ice inlet. 

The Peacock, which had become separated from her 
consorts, pursued her own way, and, a day or two later, 
her crew were provided with a curious and stirring spec- 

3i3 



AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE 

tacle. It was a battle between a whale and a huge fero- 
cious fish, which the sailors called a " killer. " This 
opponent had seized the whale by the lower jaw, much as 
a dog might seize a bull. With his mouthful of formid- 
able teeth the " killer " was enabled to hang on in spite of 
all his victim's attempts to get away. " First, at a distance 
from the ship, the whale was seen floundering in a most 
extraordinary way, lashing the smooth sea into a perfect 
foam, and endeavouring apparently to extricate himself 
from some annoyance. As he approached the ship, the 
struggle continuing and becoming more violent, it was 
perceived that a fish, apparently about twenty feet long, 
held him by the jaw, his contortions, spouting, and throes 
all betokening the agony of the huge monster. The 
whale now threw himself at full length from the water 
with open mouth, his pursuer still hanging to the jaw, the 
blood issuing from the wound and dyeing the sea to a dis- 
tance around ; but all his flounderings were of no avail ; 
his pertinacious enemy still retained his hold, and was 
evidently getting the advantage of him. Much alarm 
seemed to be felt by the many other whales around.'' 1 The 
combatants passed the Peacock with such dashings and 
commotions that hardly anything could be seen of their 
shape or colour, and they had soon swum to too great a 
distance for the spectators to witness the end of the 
combat. 

But more serious matters were soon to engage the 
attention of Captain Hudson and his men. While trying 
to " box off some ice under the bow, the ship made a 
stern-board, which brought the stern so forcibly in contact 
with a mass of ice, that it seemed from the shock as if it 
were entirely stove in.'" The rudder was so twisted that it 
made an angle with the keel, and was rendered useless. 

3i4 



SEVENTY YEARS AGO 

Various devices were tried to remedy this defect, but all 
proved useless. In this alarming state of affairs the 
ship again came in contact with the ice, and in no way 
could the captain get her clear of it. Bump after 
bump did the craft receive, scarce a minute passing 
without a shock from one quarter or another ; and with 
every blow there was a risk that she might break to 
pieces. The position grew rapidly worse ; floe ice began 
to surround the ship on all sides, and presently she 
was seen to be drifting helplessly on a prodigious ice- 
berg. 

It was thought best at once to get out the ice-anchors 
and attempt to fasten the Peacock to the berg. The 
anchors were accordingly got into position, and the 
hawser was just about to be made fast, when the vessel 
started astern so suddenly that the cable was dragged out 
of the men's hands before a single turn could be made 
with it. "The ship now drove stern foremost into the 
midst of the huge masses of ice, striking the rudder a 
second time. This blow gave it the finishing stroke, by 
nearly wringing off the head, breaking two of the pintles, 
and the upper and lower brace." Again attempts were 
made to plant the anchors, this time in one of the big ice 
floes. After many failures the men were successful, and 
they were just beginning to congratulate themselves, 
when suddenly the anchor slipped. The ship drove stern 
on in the direction of another berg with lofty perpen- 
dicular face as high as the masthead. Careering rapidly 
backwards in this fashion, the Peacock ran into a piece of 
loose ice that was floating between her and the iceberg. 
Would that floe stop her way and save her ? For an 
instant the hope that it might filled the breasts of the 
sailors. It was a vain hope ; for, " grinding along the ice, 

3i5 



AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE 

she went nearly stern foremost, and struck with her lar- 
board quarter upon the ice-island with a tremendous 
crash." 

The damage done by this shock was very great. The 
larboard stern-davit and the spanker-boom were carried 
bodily away ; the starboard stern-davit and the spar-deck 
bulwarks, with which it was connected, were crushed or 
started ; the rotten knee was broken off, and all the 
stanchions as far as the gangway. The rebound was 
correspondingly great, and, curiously, proved an advan- 
tage. It slewed her to starboard, and the sails catching a 
trifle of wind, the ship was driven away from the ice- 
berg and through a narrow opening. A strange thing 
happened just before the vessel cleared the towering 
berg. An enormous mass of ice and snow had been 
hanging over the edge of the precipitous ice-cliff, and the 
Peacock had just passed this risky spot when down came 
the whole impending mass and dropped with an immense 
splash just astern of her. Had the fall occurred but a 
few seconds sooner, both ship and crew must have been 
overwhelmed and crushed to. atoms. 

The immediate danger from the iceberg had passed 
away, but the situation was still a terrible one for the 
sailors. Little more damage would be needed to send 
the vessel to the bottom, and the crew would then either 
have to go down with her, or take refuge on an ice-island, 
with a still more terrible, because more lingering and tor- 
turing, death before them. The ship was labouring 
heavily, with floating ice all round her agitated by the 
heaving of the waves. It was, in fact, "grinding and 
thumping against her on all sides ; every moment some- 
thing either fore or aft was carried away — chains, bolts, 
bobstays, bowsprit, shrouds ; even the anchors were lifted, 

316 



SEVENTY YEARS AGO 

coming down with a surge that carried away the eye-bolts 
and lashings, and left them to hang by the stoppers. The 
cut-water also was injured, and every timber seemed to 
groan. 1 '' 

The boats that had been launched to plant the ice- 
anchors had a dreadful time of it. They were in charge 
of one of the midshipmen, Mr. Eld, and the business took 
two hours to accomplish, so difficult and full of danger 
was it. The swell caused the pieces of floating ice to 
grind together, and to dash into one another to such an 
extent that the boats were in peril of being swamped at 
any moment. And when the work was at last finished, it 
was found almost impossible to get back to the ship. 
The boat containing Mr. Midshipman Eld had presently 
one of the most curious experiences and one of the most 
extraordinary escapes that can be imagined. To come 
between the ship and the huge iceberg meant instant 
destruction for any craft, for the " ice and water were 
foaming like a cauldron." It was quite impossible to 
climb the steep and lofty side of the ice mass and 
approach the ship in that way. To have left the boat 
altogether, and attempt to get back to the ship by leap- 
ing from one piece of ice to another, would have been 
madness in such a disturbed sea. What actually hap- 
pened cannot be given better than in Captain Wilkes's 
own words. 

"At last a chance offered, though almost a hopeless 
one, by passing between two of these bergs, that appeared 
on the other side of a small clear space. The boat was 
upon a small piece of ice, from which, by great exertion, 
she was launched ; a few pulls at the oars brought them 
to the passage ; the bergs were closing fast, and agitated 
by the swell ; no time, therefore, was to be lost ; the 

3 J 7 



AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE 

danger was already great, and in a few seconds it would be 
impossible to pass. They entered ; their oars caught, and 
they got but half-way through when the icebergs closed in 
upon them, and pressed the gunwales together, so as 
almost to crush the boat ; the water entered her, and she 
was sinking ; when the berg stopped, retreated, and by 
another hard shove they went through, and were soon 
alongside the ship." 

Let us try for a moment to realise the position of 
Captain Hudson and his crew. Their vessel had in the 
fog found her way far into a huge ice-bay, the extent of 
which, as they afterwards ascertained, was quite thirty 
miles. This enormous inlet was full of floating ice, from 
the gigantic and precipitous bergs, the vast floes and 
sheets, down to the minor pieces. All these were tossing 
about in a troubled sea, subjecting the vessel to constant 
grindings and shocks of greater or less force. Soon this 
tumultuous concourse of ice-masses would be frozen into 
one unbroken ice-field, and connected with the continental 
ice that, year in year out, lined the shores of the southern 
land, a land itself little better than a still vaster ice-field. 
Once frozen in, the explorers would have no other fate 
before them than that of starving to death, even if they 
did not succumb to the terrible cold of the Antarctic 
winter. And should others of the exploring vessels come 
in search of them, what chance would there be of the 
Peacock being found in an ice-locked bay, and thirty miles 
from the open ocean ! There was nothing for it but to 
endeavour at any cost to get out of the bay, even though 
it meant still more damage to, or the total destruction of 
the ship. 

But the difficulties seemed to increase rather than 
diminish. A gale with heavy snowstorms came on. After 

318 



SEVENTY YEARS AGO 

a good many hours of it the wind died down to a gentle 
breeze, and the men were able to unship the rudder and 
set the carpenters to work on it. Then the weather 
cleared, and, to the joy of the unfortunate crew, the sea 
could be seen from the masthead. Captain Hudson 
resolved to crowd on all possible canvas and drive the 
vessel out to the open water, if by any means it could be 
done. The breeze freshened and a start was made. But 
the increased sea and the larger ice-blocks that were now 
encountered made it risky work. " Some of the shocks 
against the ship were so heavy as to excite fears that the 
bow would be driven in, and on one occasion three of the 
chronometers were thrown out of their beds of sawdust 
upon their sides." The quantity of ice around increased 
every minute, and, what was worse, the general collection 
of floes was drifting farther into the bay, carrying the 
ship with it, in spite of the fact that every stitch of sail 
was spread. The crew were in despair. 

The coolness, perseverance, and presence of mind 
exhibited by the captain were in the highest degree 
admirable, and to these qualities there can be little doubt 
all owed their ultimate escape. As the breeze continued 
to gather strength, the vessel slowly made headway, till at 
last the men succeeded in passing the thick and solid ice, 
and shortly afterwards found themselves near the outlet, 
which was discovered to be only a quarter of a mile wide ! 
How they had at first, even in the fog, managed to 
stumble out of the open ocean into this obscure trap was 
inexplicable. Just as they sailed out another snowstorm 
came on, but at last they reached clear water, " without a 
rudder, the gripe gone, and, as was afterwards found, the 
stem ground down to within an inch and a half of the 
wood-ends." There was but one thing to be done now, to 

3i9 



AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE 

abandon the further exploration of the ice-bound coast, 
and set a course northward again. The crew hoped, not- 
withstanding the various injuries the Peacock had sus- 
tained, to reach New Zealand. 

Meanwhile the Vincennes, Captain Wilkes's own ship, 
was likewise going through a trying time. During the 
storms and fogs she contrived somehow to get into a 
region of icebergs, which studded the ocean thickly, and 
careered hither and thither, colliding with and grinding 
against each other in a most terrifying way. The cold 
became so severe that every bit of spray was instantly 
frozen into particles of ice. The ship was weighed down 
with the masses of ice and snow that thickly encrusted 
deck, masts, sails, cordage. It was almost impossible to 
work the ship at all ; men sent aloft were nearly frozen to 
death, some of them being rescued from their dangerous 
positions only with the utmost difficulty. One of the 
gunners slipped on the icy deck and broke several ribs. 
And all the while it required the most constant vigilance 
to steer clear of the threatening bergs that bore down on 
the vessel. Many of the best men were down with cold, 
exhaustion, and illness. The commander became first 
anxious, then alarmed, and at last almost despairing. 

About midnight Captain Wilkes, who, tired out, had 
gone to take a short rest, was hurriedly summoned on 
deck again. " The gale at this moment was awful. We 
found we were passing large masses of drift-ice, and ice- 
islands became more numerous. At a little after one 
o'clock it was terrific, and the sea was now so heavy that 
I was obliged to reduce sail still further. " The topsails 
were clewed up and the mainsails furled with enormous 
trouble, as may be imagined from the condition in which 
they were. By the time the work was finished, several 

320 



SEVENTY YEARS AGO 

other men had to be sent below to the doctor. The 
Vinceruies, notwithstanding this lessening of sail, was still 
dashing on at a great rate. Suddenly there came a roar 
of voices. 

" Ice ahead ! On the weather bow ! On the lee bow 
and abeam ! " The ice was, in fact, on all sides ; the 
vessel was entirely beset with it. 

" All hope of escape seemed in a moment to vanish ; 
return we could not, as large ice-islands had just been 
passed to leeward ; so we dashed on, expecting every 
moment the crash. The ship, in an instant, from having 
her lee guns under water, rose upright ; and so close were 
we passing to leeward of one of these huge islands, that 
our trysails were almost thrown aback by the eddy wind. 
The helm was put up to pay the ship off, but the prox- 
imity of those under our lee bade me keep my course. All 
was now still except the distant roar of the wild storm 
that was raging behind, before, and above us ; the sea 
was in great agitation, and both officers and men were in 
the highest degree excited. The ship continued her way, 
and as we proceeded a glimmering of hope arose, for we 
accidentally had hit upon a clear passage between two 
large ice-islands, which in fine weather we should not 
dare to have ventured through. The suspense endured 
while making our way between them was intense, but of 
short duration ; and my spirits rose as I heard the 
whistling of the gale grow louder and louder before us, 
as we emerged from the passage. We had escaped an 
awful death, and were again tempest-tossed." 

A fearful night was passed, but in the morning the 

storm blew itself out, and the sea subsided, till by noon 

it was as still as a pond. The atmosphere, too, became 

so clear that from the masthead a most extensive view 

x 321 



AN ANTARCTIC CRUISE 

could be obtained in every direction. And what a sight 
it was, looking back towards the region of icebergs just 
left ! The sea was seen to be so full of them that " no 
straight line could have been drawn from the ship in any 
direction that would not have cut a dozen icebergs in as 
many miles." The crew were amazed at the sight, and 
exclamations of astonishment flew from mouth to mouth. 
The men could hardly believe that the vessel had passed 
through such an ice-encumbered sea, and that too in a 
furious storm, and yet have emerged in safety. Another 
sight that gladdened the eyes of commander and men was 
that of land, which was plainly perceived beyond the icy 
barrier that lined its shores and made approach to it so 
difficult and so perilous. The spirits of all rose high, 
and they looked forward with renewed confidence to 
discoveries worthy of the expedition and of the great 
nation that had sent it forth. 



322 



CHAPTER XXVII 

AN ENGLISH LADY'S VOYAGE TO 
THE EAST 

Lady Hester Stanhope— Embarks in the Jason frigate for the East 
— Almost wrecked off Trafalgar — Passage in the Cerberus from 
Gibraltar to Malta — On a Greek ship in the Sea of Marmora — A 
model crew !— The Turk and his gun — A violent hurricane between 
Rhodes and Alexandria — Aristocrats at the buckets — Lady- 
Hester's pluck — Vessel heels gunwale down — Long-boat launched 
— All land on a tiny rock — Skipper and men go off to Rhodes in 
the boat — Rescued from the rock — Swamped — A wretched shelter 
— To Alexandria in the Salsette — Tempest-driven again— Shot at by 
Turkish soldiers — Prisoners in a block-house — Profuse apologies. 



M' 



OST people have read of the eccentric Lady 
Hester Stanhope, who, a century ago, lived so 
much in the East, especially among the moun- 
tains of Lebanon, where she assumed Eastern costume 
and lived in Oriental style. Her voyage out affords some 
curious incidents, and, besides, illustrates in excellent 
fashion the conditions under which travellers in those 
days pursued their journeys about that part of the world. 
It was on the 10th of February, 1810, when Lady 
Hester took her passage in the Jason frigate, commanded 
by Captain the Honourable James King. It may easily 
be imagined that so great a lady would have a numerous 
retinue, and so it was. Besides personal friends, titled or 
untitled, she took a physician, and a large following of 
servants. The Jason was bound for Gibraltar, with a 

323 



A LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 

number of merchant vessels under convoy. The weather 
proved to be bad from the very first, and it took the 
fleet a whole week to reach Land's End, from Ports- 
mouth, whence they had set out. Then off the coast of 
Spain a violent tempest scattered the convoy, and drove 
the frigate upon the shoals of Trafalgar. "It was for 
some hours uncertain," writes her ladyship's physician, 
" whether we should not have to encounter the horrors 
of shipwreck, on the very shore where so many brave 
sailors perished after the battle which derives its name 
from these shoals ; but, on the following morning, by dint 
of beating to windward, under pressure of sail, in a most 
tremendous sea, we weathered the land," and reached 
Gibraltar. 

After a stay on the "Rock," Lady Stanhope took 
passage in another frigate, the Cerberus. Her troubles 
began again even before she got on board, for the boat 
which was taking her out to the ship was all but 
swamped, and the passengers had a narrow escape. Then 
the frigate managed to run on a rock before she got 
fairly under way, but luckily did not receive such damage 
as to prevent her from sailing. Things went fairly well 
till the Sea of Marmora was reached, when a tremendous 
storm bore down on the Greek vessel to which they had 
been transferred at Malta. The hammocks swung to 
such a degree that the occupants were glad to spring out 
and dress. When the passengers reached the deck, they 
found the crew — doing what ? Not their duty, but going 
about the ship collecting money. "The sum they re- 
ceived they tied in a handkerchief and fastened to the 
tiller, with a vow to St. George that they would dedicate 
the money to his shrine, if we reached some port in 
safety ! " As for the hubbub among these model sailors, 

324 



A LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 

it was terrific. The skipper prudently steered for the 
nearest place where a landing might be effected, and the 
lady and her attendants were put ashore, much to their 
relief. 

After a long stay in Constantinople, Lady Hester 
again shipped in a Greek barque, with a Greek crew, for 
Alexandria. Her usual luck at sea still pursued her, and 
the vessel had only just cleared the Bosphorus when 
another storm came on, and the captain ran for the 
Prince's Islands, where they had to spend the greater 
part of a week, weather-bound. A more or less troubled 
passage to the island of Scio in the Archipelago ended 
in yet another delay, this time for ten days, strong gales 
prevailing all the time. 

An incident of the sort common enough at that time 
and place must be recorded. Near Lady Stanhope's 
vessel lay a Turkish schooner. The rival crews indulged 
in many an uncomplimentary remark to each other across 
the short space that separated them, and before long 
matters grew more serious. An intoxicated Turk worked 
himself into a wild rage with one of the Greek crew, and 
drew his pistol, taking instant aim at his enemy, as he 
conceived the man to be. The bullet missed the Greek, 
but passed through the mosquito-net of Lady Stanhope's 
bed, to the no little alarm of the onlookers. Most fortu- 
nately the lady was not at that moment occupying the 
couch, or her journey would almost certainly have come 
to a sudden end. She complained to the Governor of the 
island, when the offending Turk was seized, and the 
Englishwoman informed that she had only to name the 
punishment she wished the man to receive, whatever it 
might be ! Needless to say, the lady did not desire the 
death of the drunken fellow. 

325 



A LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 

[ v^ After a few hours 1 stay at Rhodes the vessel set sail for 
Alexandria. For a couple of days the sea was smooth, 
and half the distance had been made, when there came a 
change. The sky was overcast, and a strong southerly 
wind began to blow, so that they were obliged to beat to 
windward. For a whole day this slow progress went on, 
till at last the gale had increased to a hurricane, and the 
captain was compelled to wear the ship. Before long 
there was a loud outcry that she had sprung a leak. All 
hands were immediately ordered to the pumps ; but, as 
usual with the easy-going Levantines, the pumps were 
out of order and almost useless. Meanwhile the water 
in the hold was rapidly increasing, and the buckets were 
called into requisition. Every man on board, passenger 
as well as sailor, was pressed into service ; and Lady 
Hester's aristocratic friends, her physician, and all her 
male servants, worked like navvies, while the ship's course 
was set for Rhodes again. 

Lady Hester showed unbounded pluck at this trying 
juncture. She quietly dressed herself, and put a few of 
the most necessary things into a small bag, prepared for 
whatever might come. Further, to encourage and 
strengthen the men in their heavy labours with the 
buckets, she broached a cask of wine she had with her, 
and with her own hands distributed the contents among 
them, bidding them be of good courage. The conduct 
of this nobly born and delicately nurtured lady formed a 
great contrast to the behaviour of some of the Greek 
sailors, as will presently be seen. 

The vessel was becoming every minute more water- 
logged, notwithstanding all exertions. Presently she 
heeled gunwale down. To the alarm of all, she did not 
right herself, and, in fact, she never afterwards assumed 

326 




In Danger of Foundering 

The pumps would not work, so every person on board was pressed into service to bail 
out the water with buckets. 



A LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 

an even keel. In this distressing situation certain of the 
crew collapsed, ceasing their efforts, and flinging them- 
selves down on the deck, beside themselves with fright, 
weeping like women, to the great contempt of the lady 
and her company. Some of the fellows shook as if they 
had a bad ague fit, crying the while in the most lament- 
able tones, " All the saints protect us ! " Truly an 
unpromising state of things for the passengers ! 

But now the island of Rhodes was seen in the offing, 
and, notwithstanding the terrible list and the water- 
logged state of the barque, she was brought to within 
about a couple of miles of the shore. Then all at once 
the vessel refused to obey her helm, and no longer made 
any way. That she was sinking fast was plainly seen ; 
indeed, it was only a question of minutes. The long- 
boat was hoisted out and with some difficulty launched. 
She was a very small craft for the twenty-five human 
beings crowded into her, and orders were passed round 
that no one was to carry baggage of any sort. The rope 
was let go, and the boat, sunk to the water's level, slowly 
made her way across the tossing sea. 

It was clearly impossible to traverse the two miles to 
the island, and the pilot steered for a piece of bare rock 
that showed above the waves not far away. It was now 
doubtful if even that spot could be reached, for the boat, 
every moment washed and filled by the heavy seas, was in 
imminent danger of foundering. Luckily the rock was 
reached in safety, and the boat was pushed round to the 
leeward of it, and drawn up in a tiny creek just big 
enough to hold her. For the moment the relief amongst 
the miserable beings was great. But when they came to 
reflect more calmly on their position, it was the reverse of 
assuring. Here were they all crowded on a bare rock 

327 



A LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 

exposed to the fury of the winds and the dashing of the 
spray ; without food or water ; and with the prospect 
before them of remaining there for some time. There 
was but one little spot, a sort of cave, where a shelter 
from the blinding spray could be obtained, and that was 
assigned to Lady Stanhope and her maid. Neither food 
nor water was for the present so much needed as rest, 
for every soul was half dead with fatigue. With one 
accord, therefore, they threw themselves upon the bare 
rock and instantly dropped off to sleep, all, except the 
two women, swept by the cold salt spray. 

About midnight, after a few hours of heavy sleep, the 
captain rose, and, finding that the wind had abated some- 
what, proposed that he and his crew should take the boat 
and endeavour to reach Rhodes, whence they would be 
able to bring help to the others. Some of the passengers 
were not much disposed to put faith in the sailors, well 
knowing the Greek character ; but there was no help for 
it, and the skipper went off with his men. He had 
promised to make a fire on the shore, as soon as the boat 
had landed in safety. Anxiously those left behind awaited 
the signal, and after about two hours, the blaze was per- 
ceived on the beach of Rhodes. 

A most trying day was passed on the rock. Hungry, 
thirsty, wet, cold, and miserable, the poor wretches strained 
their eyes in the constant search for some craft coming to 
their help. The day wore on and evening drew nigh. 
The sun was setting in the western waves, and the party 
had given up all hope of relief that day. Then a speck 
was seen, and soon the boat returned, manned by a few 
of the sailors, the skipper having taken care not to 
expose himself again to any risk. The men brought 
some bread and cheese, with water and arrack. For 

328 



A LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 

thirty hours the famished wights on the rock had tasted 
nothing. 

" But another danger now stared us in the face. The 
sailors had found liquor on shore, and had made them- 
selves drunk. They grew riotous and insolent, and, in 
the course of the night, declared their resolution of row- 
ing back again. In vain we requested that they would 
wait till daylight, till the wind abated. They were de- 
termined ; and, as those who remained behind could have 
no chance but to perish, we were compelled to go with 
them. The sea was high; and, as they were pulling 
almost in the face of it, the labour of the sailors was 
very severe. But, for the same reason, the nearer we 
approached the shore the smoother the water became. 
At last the stern touched, and a wave, that filled her 
from head to stern, at once overwhelmed her. Lady 
Hester was hoisted out, and each made his way to the 
shore as he could. The boat, soon after, was swamped 
and staved. 1 '' 

It was a wretched spot on which the shipwrecked group 
had landed, and there was no shelter from the pitiless 
rain except an old windmill by the shore. The men made 
a fire outside this, as best they could, and Lady Hester 
and her party took up their quarters in it. It was a 
wretched place, filthy in the extreme, as were all the 
habitations of the village they visited next morning. 
Rats swarmed, and ran incessantly, even up and down the 
ropes. The maid was so horrified that she rushed out- 
side and spent the rest of the night in the pouring rain. 
After a miserable time the shipwrecked English folk were 
carried to the town, where the British consul played the 
part of the Good Samaritan, providing them with food 
and shelter, and such clothing as he could command. 

329 



A LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 

Their difficulties in the way of getting a passage to 
Alexandria were extraordinary, and the account of them 
is amusing reading in these days of splendid and punctual 
mail-steamers and magnificent P. and 0. liners. It was 
impossible to find any craft at Rhodes to take the lady 
and her suite across, and at length she dispatched her 
physician to Smyrna, on the chance of his there meeting 
with what she wanted. He accordingly crossed in a small 
coasting vessel to the port of Smyrna, where, after much 
bargaining, he managed to hire another Greek barque, 
a wretched affair, but the best that could be had. The 
vessel started for Rhodes to fetch the rest of the party. 
But it was not to be ; off the island of Scio a gale came on, 
and it was at once plain that the Greek could not stand 
against anything of that kind. The physician had to go 
back to Rhodes in despair. But unexpected help arrived 
most opportunely. A British frigate, the Salsette, Captain 
Hope, came over from Smyrna harbour to Rhodes, the 
commander having heard of Lady Stanhope's shipwreck 
and forlorn predicament. His offer was gratefully accepted, 
and a hasty embarkation was made, as the stormy season 
was at hand, and Captain Hope was uneasy. Hardly had 
the frigate started when a violent tempest drove her back 
to the little Rhodian harbour of Marmora for shelter. 
At length, all dangers past, the English party made 
Pompey's Pillar, and reached Alexandria on the 14th of 
January. They had left Constantinople on the 23rd of 
the previous October ! 

After a stay there Lady Hester desired to go on to 
Rosetta, and an awkward and adventurous voyage it 
proved. First, the luggage was carried by porters down 
to the shore of Lake Madieh, really an arm of the sea, 
though connected with the open water by only a very 

33o 



A LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 

narrow opening. Here the party bargained with an old 
janissary and his boy for a passage in his boat to the Bay 
of Aboukir. They had got only a couple of miles on 
their way, when a number of men were observed running 
along the shore, hallooing with all their might and 
gesticulating violently. No attention was paid to them 
for some time, but at last the old helmsman declared that 
there was something wrong, and that a return must be 
made. Then came an amusing scene. The old fellow 
turned the rudder for this purpose, and the gentlemen 
immediately seized the tiller and turned it back again. 
For a time this sort of thing went on, till at last the 
passengers grew tired of the struggle and gave way. 

When they had got to within half a mile of the shore, 
they perceived another boat coming out to meet them. 
Directly afterwards there was a flash, and a bullet whistled 
over their heads. It was now seen that the other boat 
was full of armed soldiers. Matters were assuming an 
awkward aspect, and the passengers awaited developments 
with no little anxiety. The physician cried out in Turk- 
ish, " What do you want ? " Thereupon an Albanian, 
who seemed to be in command of the military party, 
knelt down and took deliberate aim. 

" Our old janissary no sooner beheld the muzzle of the 
gun than he dropped down in the boat ; he expected the 
Albanian officer (for such he proved to be) would have 
fired ; but the people with him were evidently urging him 
not to do so. We reached the shore, and were immediately 
seized, disarmed, and a volley of oaths and imprecations 
was vented upon us. In vain our trembling janissary said 
that we were Englishmen, belonging to a great English 
person, and that those who did us harm would rue it : he 
was not heeded." 

33i 



A LADY'S VOYAGE TO THE EAST 

The prisoners were marched along the dam that sepa- 
rated the so-called lakes, Madieh and Moeris, and were 
confined in a block-house on the shore. It was some time 
before the prisoners could learn the nature of their offence, 
but at last it turned out that they had embarked without 
submitting their passports to the authorities. However, 
the soldiers were at length persuaded to allow the 
physician to go to Alexandria to put the case before the 
high officials there. Another of the Englishmen was kept 
as a hostage, but was permitted to sleep in the boat. In 
due time the doctor returned, to find his friend still in the 
boat, famished, and wet through with the heavy dews of 
that country. The Albanian officer was now called to 
account by the person of rank who had come back with 
the physician, and it was laughable to see the marvellous 
change in the man's demeanour. He became very humble, 
and offered all manner of services to the Englishmen. 
But the indignant travellers would have neither his apolo- 
gies nor his attentions, and declared that they wanted to 
be gone as soon as possible. So, at daybreak, all left the 
block-house and re-embarkcd, this time to reach Aboukir 
Bay without further adventure. 



332 



CHAPTER XXVIII 
LORD EXMOUTHS ESCAPES 

Viscount Exmouth — The Indefatigable aground — Ready decision — 
How to deal with skulkers— An extraordinary examination of the 
ship — A wrecked cutter — A leap to the rescue — Wounded and in 
a critical position— Saving the men of the Dutton — A truly modest 
report — A mutiny on board the Indefatigable — Nerve and decision 
— Mutiny on the Imp4tueux — An execution — Battle with the 
Droits de Vhomme — Splendid seamanship — A fearful story — Bom- 
bardment of Algiers — Marvellous daring. 

THE life-story of almost any one of the long and 
glorious line of great British sea-captains yields a 
whole series of gallant actions, hairbreadth escapes, 
and stirring scenes generally. It matters little where we 
choose. A dip into the biography of one of the most 
distinguished of them, Edward Pellew, afterwards the 
famous Viscount Exmouth, will serve well to illustrate 
this. So full of adventures of the most striking kind, 
indeed, was Lord Exmouth's career, that one is almost 
bewildered by the number and brilliancy of his exploits. 
It is only the merest gleaning that can be given in the 
present chapter. 

In the summer of 1795 the Indefatigable, then com- 
manded by Captain Sir Edward Pellew, was sent, with 
the Concorde, to chase a suspicious-looking vessel off Cape 
Finisterre. The water was as smooth as glass, as with all 
sail set the frigates flew after the enemy. Captain Pellew 
was looking at the land, about noon, when he perceived 

333 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

his acting master, Mr. Bell, coming towards him. Mr. 
Bell had heard a noise as of something breaking aloft. 
He could see nothing there, but further investigation 
proved that the vessel was aground. He at once had 
the hand-lead flung over the side, to find but eighteen 
feet of water, whereas the Indefatigable drew nineteen 
feet six inches abaft. It was evident that the ship was 
suspended by her centre on a bit of sunken rock. Not for 
an instant did Pellew hesitate in so alarming and danger- 
ous a situation. He immediately gave orders to move 
some of the main-deck guns, when, happily, the ship 
rolled or slid off the rock into deep water. She was thus 
far safe ; but she had already five feet of water in her 
hold, and more was pouring in with alarming rapidity. 
The pumps were at once manned, and for three days the 
gallant sailors worked incessantly, toiling as only first-rate 
men will do in such cases. All the while, the captain was 
slowly steering for Lisbon. His ready decision had saved 
the lives, doubtless, of every man on board. 

At Lisbon the British consul sent on board the Inde- 
fatigable a number of Portuguese sailors to relieve the 
worn-out crew. Early next morning these fellows left 
the pumps, saying that it was a saint's day and they 
would not work. Mr. Bell ran into the captain's cabin to 
inform him of this. In a moment Pellew had seized his 
sword, and rushed out just as he was, in his dressing- 
gown. Without the least hesitation he bore down on 
the whole gang of the Portuguese, and a ludicrous chase 
began. The skulkers fled like sheep before him, tearing 
round and round the ship. First one and then another 
hurriedly rushed back to his work, till at last every man 
was pumping for his life again, Sir Edward standing by 
to see they kept at it. 

334 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

It now became necessary to make an examination of 
the bottom of the vessel, in order to see what and where 
the damage was. This kind of examination generally 
means trouble and delay, both of which Pellew meant to 
avoid, if possible. To the astonishment and alarm of 
everybody, the captain, declaring he would make the 
examination forthwith, sprang overboard. He swam first 
along one side, then along the other, and after that dived 
under her, not leaving the water till he had gained a full 
and clear knowledge of what he wanted to know. When 
the Indefatigable came to be docked for the repairs, it 
was found that his description of her injuries was accu- 
rate in every respect. And bad enough the damage was: 
" twenty-seven of her floors and first futtocks" were found 
to be broken. 

Repairs finished, the ship put to sea again, but almost 
at once encountered heavy gales. Sir Edward, at his 
dinner below, heard a tremendous bustle above, and, in 
his usual way, dashed at full speed upon deck. He found 
a cutter wrecked in the surging waters, and two men en- 
deavouring with great difficulty to keep themselves afloat. 
It appeared that owing to the heaving of the sea the 
tackle had become unhooked in the launching of the 
cutter, and that the next wave had dashed the craft to 
pieces. The captain jumped into the gig and ordered 
his men to lower it just above the cutter. Men and 
officers were alarmed, and endeavoured to dissuade their 
superior from so dangerous an attempt. Pellew would 
not listen, and down the gig went. The next instant 
came a thundering wave, breaking the boat as if it were 
a shell, and flinging the occupant into the water. 

Sir Edward was seen to be bleeding badly about the 
face and head, and it was evident he had been seriously 

335 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

hurt. The utmost consternation prevailed on board the 
vessel, for it was feared he would swoon off and drop to 
the bottom like a stone. But the swimmer kept his head 
in a marvellous manner, and shouted for a rope. In a 
trice a dozen were thrown to him, and, catching one, he 
was hauled up. It was found that his nostril had been 
torn up by a hook, and that he had been badly bruised 
besides. But by this time the jolly-boat had been 
hoisted out from the booms, and the men of the cutter's 
crew picked up. This was the third time that year that 
Sir Edward Pellew had risked his life to save that of 
others. A still finer, and indeed a magnificent, act of 
bravery was soon to follow. 

It was in the January of the following year. Captain 
Pellew and his wife were at Plymouth. On their way to 
dine with a friend one day, they noticed a great crowd 
running to the shore. Leaving Lady Pellew, Sir Edward 
sprang out of his carriage and ran after the multitudes. 
He saw an appalling sight. A great transport ship, the 
Button, with hundreds of soldiers on board, had got on 
the shoal, her rudder gone, her masts all broken and 
hanging overboard. That every soul on board would 
perish seemed certain, and the vast crowd on shore could 
do nothing. The unfortunate ship was rolling frightfully, 
and each roll might be her last. Her captain was on 
shore indisposed, and the confusion on board was there- 
fore likely to be very great ; besides, night was coming 
on fast, and soon it would be too late to do anything. 

But there was one spectator who did not despair, and 
who had no thought of standing idle. Pellew called for 
a boat to take him to the doomed ship, but not a water- 
man would risk his life or his boat. In vain Sir Edward 
pleaded ; none stirred to do his bidding. 

336 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

"Then I'll go myself! " he shouted, and he flew to the 
hawser which the officers of the Dutton had somehow 
managed to get to the shore. Two or three men had 
already saved themselves by this cable, but the risk was 
too great for many to attempt it, for the rolling of the 
ship swayed the hawser to such an extent that a man 
hanging to it would first be thrown high up into the air, 
and then dropped with a dash into the boiling sea. By 
the help of this, nevertheless, Captain Pellew made his 
way to the stranded vessel. At the last moment, just 
before he reached her side, he was dragged under one of 
the masts, and his back received severe injury. Taking 
no notice of this, however, he extricated himself, and 
climbed on deck, to the ringing cheers of the crowd on 
the ship and the still greater crowd watching breathlessly 
from the shore. 

In a moment he drew his sword, and, declaring his 
name and rank, announced that he took over the com- 
mand of the ship. He assured the frightened people 
that if they would only keep a good heart and follow his 
instructions implicitly and readily, not one of them would 
be lost, and that he himself would be the last to quit the 
ship. His words did wonders in the way of tranquillising 
the folk ; they knew that if any mortal man could devise 
a means of saving them, Sir Edward Pellew was that man. 
His task was rendered none the easier, be it said, by the 
fact that many of the soldiers were drunk, having got at 
the spirits before he had come aboard. 

Pellew^s own ship, the Indefatigable ', was lying at 
Plymouth, and her officers, all ignorant that their own 
commander had gone on board the Dutton, were now 
making the most strenuous efforts to render help. They 
had rushed to the spot with boats, but were quite unable 
v 337 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

to reach the sinking vessel. They were, in truth, within 
an ace of losing some of their own boats and men in the 
attempts they were making. But other boats came to 
the rescue, and some of these were more fortunate. Two, 
under the direction of Mr. Hemmings, the master-atten- 
dant at Plymouth, succeeded in reaching the Dutton. 
By this means two more hawsers were fixed between shore 
and ship, and to these Captain Pellew fitted travelling 
cradles. All was now ready ; the children were sent first, 
those on shore regulating the lengths of the cables to 
suit the rollings of the vessel. Amidst a scene of the 
wildest excitement the little ones were conveyed to land. 
Then followed the women and the ailing ; after that came 
the turn of the soldiers, and they were followed by the 
sailors. There remained but two or three officers and 
Sir Edward himself, and these were the last to leave the 
ship. Every man, woman, and child was saved, and 
Plymouth rang with the applause of the admiring crowds. 
The Dutton went to pieces almost directly afterwards. 
Will it be believed that after an action so heroic and so 
beneficent, the gallant captain gave the chief praise to 
Mr. Hemmings, and that in the journal of the Indefatigable 
the only entry concerning this splendid piece of work runs 
thus : " Sent two boats to the assistance of a ship ashore 
in the Sound." Greater modesty than this it would 
surely be hard to find. 

It was a time when mutinies were, unhappily, rife in the 
navy, and some of them tried the mettle and tact of the 
authorities to the uttermost, and, in more cases than one, 
beyond that point. Sir Edward Pellew, popular though 
he was in his profession and amongst sailors generally, 
did not escape troubles of this kind. In 1799 a plot was 
hatched on board his own Indefatigable. One of the 

338 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

sailors stole secretly by night to the captain to tell him 
of it, but Sir Edward professed to pooh-pooh the notion. 
However, next day a lieutenant sent him word that the 
men refused to work at the capstan. At once the 
commander drew his sword, telling his officers to do like- 
wise. Said he, " You can never die so well as on your 
own deck quelling a mutiny ; and now, if a man hesitate 
to obey you, cut him down without a word." It was 
enough ; the sailors knew the man with whom they had to 
deal, and in a moment the mutiny was at an end. 

A far more serious case occurred on the Impetueuoc, to 
the command of which Pellew was afterwards appointed. 
He was one day dressing in his cabin, when he was 
hurriedly summoned on deck by a subordinate officer. 
The captain found everything in the greatest confusion. 
It appeared that the sailors had in a body refused to 
obey orders, though the marines had remained loyal. 
" No ! No ! No ! " the crew had cried to all the commands 
given by the officers, and when a lieutenant had run to 
fetch the captain the men had shouted, " One and all ! 
One and all ! " 

When Sir Edward reached the deck — in his dressing- 
gown, as on a former occasion — he found the whole body 
of sailors pressing forward and shouting in the most 
excited and defiant manner. He was received with hoot- 
ings, and amidst the din cries of " A boat ! A boat ! " 
were heard. Without a trace of fear the commander 
confronted the hundreds of insubordinate sailors, calmly 
inquiring what they wanted. Somebody replied that 
"they had a letter of complaint to take to the Admiral, 
and demanded a boat. 

" Give the letter to me," quietly responded the captain, 
"and I will take it myself to the Admiral, or send an 

339 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

officer with it." A great hubbub ensued, and in vain Sir 
Edward endeavoured to pacify the men. At last the 
ringleader replied with an imprecation that they meant to 
have a boat. 

" You will, will you ? " was all Sir Edward said, and he 
rushed to the cabin for his sword. 

Darting back to the deck, he called on the marines to 
support him, and every man of them obeyed. This 
loyalty, together with his own resolute bearing, instantly 
won the day for the captain. He ordered the quarter- 
deck to be cleared, and there was at once a wild stampede, 
the mutineers running down the hatchways with cries 
to put out the lights and take away the ladders. Nothing 
daunted, Pellew darted in amongst them, and with his 
own hands seized one of the most notorious of the ring- 
leaders, threatening to cut the fellow down if he made 
the least resistance. The mutiny was quelled, a most 
fortunate thing; for there were a number of other warships 
whose crews were prepared to follow the example of the 
Impetueuoc men. 

There was a strange scene at the execution of the three 
chief mutineers, who had been sentenced to death by the 
court-martial the Admiral had held. The men of the 
Impetueux put on an air of bravado, evidently intending 
to make the occasion a sort of triumph for the martyrs, 
as they styled the condemned. Sir Edward dispelled the 
feeling at once by his action. There were amongst the 
sailors assembled to see the execution a score or so of 
men who had followed Sir Edward from the Inde- 
fatigable. 

" Indefatigables," the commander cried, " stand aside ! 
Not one of you shall touch the rope. But you," he 
continued, addressing the men of the Impetueux herself, 

34o 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

" you, who have encouraged your shipmates to the crime 
by which they have forfeited their lives, it shall be your 
punishment to hang them ! " The crew fell back beneath 
his stern gaze, and so overcome were many of them, and 
so thoroughly ashamed of their conduct, that they burst 
into tears. There was no better-behaved or more loyal 
crew in the British Navy than that of the Impetueux 
after that. 

The story of the wonderful fight between the two 
British frigates Indefatigable and Amazon^ and the huge 
French line-of-battle ship Droits de Vhomme, is too long 
to be told in full in this place. In its sequel, especially, 
it was one of the most remarkable things in all naval 
history. As the French Commodore afterwards wrote, 
" The ships fought like three dogs till they all fell over 
the cliff together." This sums up the result in a sentence. 
All day long the vessels had engaged in the hottest of 
fights, giving little heed to their position, and it was not 
till all three had been badly battered, and for the most 
part disabled, that the respective crews noticed clearly the 
dangerous situation into which they had all got. The 
French coast was close at hand, and it seemed impossible 
to save any of the ships. The Lidefatigable ran to the 
south, the Amazon northwards, while the French ship, 
under stress of the furious gale that was blowing full 
inshore, and in her unmanageable condition, was carried 
helplessly among the raging breakers. 

The Indefatigable stood away till a cry of " Breakers 
ahead ! " was raised, and then she wore, and stood north- 
wards once more. While on this tack she passed close to 
the stranded Droits de rhomme, on whose deck were seen 
hundreds of poor fellows doomed to destruction. Pellew 1 s 
heart went out to these most unfortunate beings, till 

341 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

lately his enemies, but now fellow-mortals in direst ex- 
tremity, whom he was utterly powerless to aid. It is 
characteristic of this brave man that he wept at the 
appalling spectacle. But his own ship was herself in a 
most precarious position, her safety dependent on the 
holding together of damaged mast and rigging. The 
next hour or two showed some of the finest seamanship 
ever seen. Sir Edward Pellew watched every point with 
the most consummate skill, gaining a trifle on each tack, 
till at length he brought his ship triumphantly out of 
danger, though badly injured and helpless, and with six 
feet of water in her hold. 

The Amazon had been lost sight of all this time, and 
Pellew knew nothing of her. As a matter of fact, she 
had struck almost as soon as she had ceased firing, and 
within a few minutes of the striking of the Droits de 
rhomme. Thanks, however, to the admirable discipline 
on board, every soul got safely to land on rafts they 
made ; all, except half a dozen men who stole the cutter 
and made off with her. This craft was almost immedi- 
ately swamped, and all in her were lost. 

We may now turn for a moment to the Droits de 
rhomme, lying on her broadside in the surf. Her story is 
almost the exact opposite of that of the Amazon. On 
the French ship the confusion was terrible, in marked 
contrast with the coolness and admirable discipline seen 
on board the other. Her masts had gone by the board ; 
numbers of the men had been swept off the deck with the 
very first waves after she had struck ; the air rang with 
the cries of the soldiers and sailors on board. There had 
been at first no fewer than sixteen hundred souls on the 
Droits de rhomme, and these, crowded together in despair, 
vainly shouted to the multitudes watching them from the 

342 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

shore, that shore which seemed so near, but which so few 
of them were ever to tread again. Yet the Frenchmen 
on board had acted with noble humanity and thoughtful- 
ness. There were about fifty English prisoners on the 
Droits de Vhomme, and the instant she struck, these poor 
fellows were called up from the hold to take the same 
chance, small indeed though that might be, with their 
captors. "Poor English, r> the Frenchmen cried, "come 
up quickly ; we are all lost ! " We may give a few words 
showing the fearful state of things on the Frenchman 
three or four days after the disaster. 

" Already nine hundred had perished, when the fourth 
night came with renewed terrors. Weak, distracted, and 
wanting everything, we envied the fate of those whose 
lifeless corpses no longer needed sustenance. The sense 
of hunger was already lost, but a parching thirst con- 
sumed our vitals. Recourse was had to wine and salt 
water, which only increased the want. . . . Almost at the 
last gasp every one was dying with misery : the ship, 
which was now one-third shattered away from the stern, 
scarcely afforded a grasp to hold by to the exhausted and 
helpless survivors. The fourth day brought with it a 
more serene sky, and the sea seemed to subside ; but to 
behold, from fore and aft, the dying in all directions, was 
a sight too shocking for the feeling mind to endure." 
The story is too sad to continue, but next day about four 
hundred were taken off in rafts and boats by helpers from 
other vessels. Only a hundred and fifty of these reached 
the shore, the rest being swamped and perishing in the 
tumultuous sea. There were still nearly four hundred 
left on board whom it was impossible to rescue that 
night. Next morning half of these were found dead in 
the ship. Needless to say, the gallant Pellew, with his 

343 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

own terribly damaged vessel, could render no assistance to 
his most unfortunate enemy. 

We may take just one more peep at Lord Exmouth, as 
we must by this time call him, when he was bombarding 
Algiers. This battle has been described as forming a 
class by itself among naval victories. It is well known 
that the attack was made to put down the disgraceful 
slave trade, which had been so extensively and so brutally 
carried on under the segis of the Dey of Algiers, and 
that the victory achieved its object in the most thorough 
and brilliant manner. Scarcely ever before had a fleet 
attacked such formidable batteries as those of Algiers, 
and what makes the victory still more remarkable, is the fact 
that the fleet under Lord Exmouth was exceedingly small 
for the purpose. The leader had deliberately refused to 
employ a larger armament, owing to the impossibility of 
placing advantageously before the town any great number 
of vessels. It is worth noting that Lord Nelson himself, 
when consulted, years before, as to the number of ships 
he thought would be required to destroy the batteries 
of Algiers, had named a number five times that of 
Exmouth , s actual fleet. 

As soon as the Queen Charlotte, Lord Exmouth's flag- 
ship, had been placed in position, the sailors gave three 
rousing British cheers. Hardly had the last of them died 
away when there came a shot from one of the forts, 
striking the Superb. Another, and then another came 
hurtling along. But the commander-in-chief was ready. 
" Stand by 1 " he gave the order, when the enemy's first 
gun boomed forth. " Fire ! " he cried, as the second shot 
came, while the third shot from the Algerine forts was 
lost in the roar from the Queen Charlotte 's own thundering 
broadside. 

344 



LORD EXMOUTH'S ESCAPES 

" In a few minutes, indeed before the battle had become 
general, the Queen Charlotte had ruined the fortifications 
of the Mole-head. Her shot struck with the most fatal 
accuracy, crumbling the tower of the lighthouse to ruins, 
and bringing down gun after gun from the batteries. 
The last of these guns was dismounted just as the artillery- 
men were in the act of discharging it ; when an Algerine 
chief was seen to spring upon the ruins of the parapet, 
and with impotent rage, to shake his scimitar against 
the ship." 

The result was a magnificent victory for the British and 
their allies the Dutch, who had begged to be allowed to 
assist in so good a work. From that day Algiers ceased 
to be a nest of slave-traders and slave-holders. We may 
just mention that Lord Exmouth, who had all day 
exhibited the most extraordinary daring, had many narrow 
escapes. One cannon shot tore away the skirt of his coat ; 
another carried off one of his buttons, and a third 
smashed his spectacles. He was wounded in the face, the 
thigh, and the fingers, but, fortunately, not badly. 



WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. 
PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH 



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